IRPA s. 20(1)(b)A foreign national who seeks to enter or remain in Canada as a temporary resident must establish that they hold the visa or other document required under the regulations and will leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay.Read it on the Government of Canada's site
This provision is where the burden of proof comes from. The applicant must establish they will leave — the officer does not have to establish that you would not.
That distinction explains many refusals that feel unfair. A neutral file, with nothing obviously wrong, still fails this test if it does not positively demonstrate the return.
These are the situations that most often produce this finding. Your notes will usually name the specific one.
Fix the thing the officer named. Changing everything else at once usually makes a file look staged.
Officers write several codes on one file, and only one of them is usually the real reason. Send us your notes and we will tell you which line actually decided your case — and what to do about it.