(Canada flag. Photo by Wikipedia)
Canada has explained how it decides which people from which countries can visit without needing a visa.
The country uses more than 40 different rules to make these decisions about entire countries.
Canada’s immigration department said on Wednesday that these 40 rules are used to look at countries as a whole.
The rules are not used to score individual people applying for visas.
Instead, the rules help Canada decide which countries should have their people apply for visas and which countries do not need visas.
The rules that Canada uses include looking at safety and security in the country.
Canada checks if a country is dangerous and if there are threats.
Canada also looks at how good the country’s passports and travel documents are.
Canada checks if a country trades with Canada and how many tourists come from that country.
Canada also tracks how many people from a country ask for asylum in Canada and how many people from that country have broken visa rules in the past by working illegally or studying without permission.
When a person from another country applies for a visitor visa to Canada, that person gets a different kind of check.
Canada’s immigration officers look at each person’s application individually.
They do not use a point system or a checklist to score each person.
For individual visitors, Canada checks if the person really plans to go back home after their visit.
Canada checks if the person has enough money to pay for their stay.
Canada also checks the person’s health, their criminal record and their security risk.
If a person looks risky, Canada sends their file to special security agencies for extra checking.
Canada is receiving more and more applications from people wanting to visit.
Many applications are coming from India and China.
To handle so many applications, Canada has started using new computer systems.
One new system called the Global Risk Framework started in late 2025.
This system watches what is happening with people moving around the world and warns Canada about problems before they get too big.
Canada also takes fingerprints and face photos of people applying for visas at 166 different visa centers around the world.
Canada processes 3.5 million biometric records every year.
This helps Canada make sure people are who they say they are and checks them against security databases.
Canada said that even though it has made its screening tighter, it still wants to let real visitors come to Canada who will help the economy.
