Invitation Letter
Invitation Letter for a Canadian Visitor Visa
What should an invitation letter include?
IRCC’s published guidance asks for two clusters of information. About your guest: full name, date of birth, address and phone, your relationship, the purpose of the visit, arrival and departure dates, where they will stay and how the trip is funded. About you, the host: full name, date of birth, address and phone, your status in Canada, citizen or permanent resident, your occupation, and who lives in your household. Attach status proof, a citizenship card, PR card or Canadian passport copy, and where you are covering costs, evidence you can, such as an employment letter or recent bank statement.
Does the invitation letter need to be notarized?
IRCC’s checklist does not demand it for a standard visitor visa, so plain and honest is the baseline. In practice, three groups notarize anyway: applicants from visa offices known to scrutinize invitations, hosts who are also declaring financial support, and anyone advised to by the applicant’s consultant or lawyer abroad. A notarized letter, or one converted into a sworn statutory declaration of support, signals that you stand behind every line, and it costs little compared to the stakes of a refusal. When the destination requirement is a formal sworn undertaking of support, we do it as a statutory declaration, which I commission on the spot.
What happens at the appointment, and what does it cost?
Bring the finished letter unsigned, your photo ID, and your status document. I review the letter against IRCC’s expectations, flag anything vague, dates that do not add up, funding left unexplained, then witness your signature and notarize, or administer the declaration if we have gone the sworn route. A notarized invitation letter is $45 ; as a sworn statutory declaration of support it is $39 ; certified true copies of your PR card or passport to enclose are $20 each alongside . Fifteen minutes, typically.
What visa officers read into the host
Officers cross-check the invitation against the application, so internal consistency is the whole game. Dates that match the flight bookings, an address that matches your status document, a stated relationship the applicant also states, funding claims proportionate to your declared occupation. A letter that overpromises, unlimited support from a modest income, hurts more than it helps, and I will flag that kind of mismatch during review. Sincere, specific and consistent beats grand and vague in every visa office on earth.