Mr. Speaker, with regard to the criteria governing the granting of single and multiple entry visas and with regard to (a), the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act gives visa officers outside Canada the authority to review temporary resident visa applications and make their decisions based on the criteria outlined in the act and the regulations.
Visa officers consider several factors before deciding if a person is admissible. The person must be a genuine visitor to Canada who will leave at the end of the visit. In addition, the visa officer must be satisfied that the applicant is not inadmissible to Canada according to the Act. The applicant may be considered inadmissible under grounds related to security, human or international rights violations, criminality, organized crime, health, or financial reasons. A visa will be issued if all regulatory requirements and eligibility criteria are satisfied.
With regard to (b),the criteria for multiple entry visas are the same as above.
With regard to (c), the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act gives visa officers outside Canada the authority to review temporary resident visa applications and make their decisions based on the criteria outlined in the act and the regulations. Applicants indicate on their application form if they wish a single-entry or multiple-entry visa and pay the requisite fee. In Canadian dollars, the processing fee for a single-entry visa is $75, while a multiple-entry is $150. An applicant who has requested a multiple-entry visa but who has only paid the processing fee for a single-entry visa would be issued a single-entry visa.
If the applicant has requested and paid the processing fee for a multiple-entry visa, a multiple-entry visa would normally be issued. The departmental procedure, as outlined in the operational manual, is that if officers have doubts about issuing a multiple entry visa, they should normally refuse the application rather than compromise and grant a single-entry visa. However, in some circumstances, an officer may decide to issue a single-entry visa based on the particulars of the case and must justify this in the case notes. An example of such circumstance would be when the purpose of the applicant’s travel is to attend a singular event and is being funded by a credible third party.