Canada Visa Application From Nigeria: Fees and Steps (2026)

Canada’s visitor visa, which Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) also calls a temporary resident visa, is applied for online. Nothing is handed in at an embassy. The one step IRCC requires in person is an appointment at a visa application centre to give your fingerprints and photograph, and if the visa is approved your passport goes to IRCC through the same centre. IRCC also publishes a checklist written by its Lagos visa office, and it is the most specific guide there is to what an application from Nigeria should contain.

Canada visa fees

These are from IRCC’s fee list, in Canadian dollars.

One adult therefore pays CAN$100 + CAN$85 = CAN$185. A couple pays CAN$200 + CAN$170 = CAN$370. A family of five pays CAN$500 + CAN$170 = CAN$670.

You pay by card at the end of the online application. IRCC accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB and UnionPay cards, as well as Visa Debit and Debit MasterCard, and says the card does not have to be in your name. It gives no naira figure. Its fraud page says fees are the same everywhere in the world and that any local-currency amount is the Canadian dollar fee at the official exchange rate.

Booking the biometrics appointment costs nothing. IRCC says the biometrics fee already covers it, and that temporary residence applicants give biometrics only once every ten years.

Who needs it and what you get

Nigeria is on IRCC’s list of countries whose citizens need a visa to travel to Canada. IRCC describes the visitor visa as an official document placed in your passport. A visa officer decides whether it is single or multiple entry and how long it is valid, up to ten years or until your passport or biometrics expire, whichever comes first. The fee is the same either way.

Most visitors can stay for up to six months. The border officer can allow less or more and will write the leaving date in your passport.

IRCC’s basic requirements are a valid passport, good health, no criminal or immigration-related convictions and enough money for the stay. You must also convince an officer that you have ties that will take you home, such as a job, a home, financial assets or family, and that you will leave at the end of the visit. IRCC does not publish a minimum amount of money. It says the sum depends on how long you stay and on where: in a hotel, or with friends or relatives.

How to apply online

1. Gather your documents, using the lists in the next section.
2. Open an account on the IRCC Portal from Canada.ca’s How to apply page. First-time users need an invite code, requested from the same page, before they can create the account.
3. Fill in the online form. When you have answered the questions, the portal gives you a personal document checklist. Upload everything on it.
4. Pay the visa fee and the biometrics fee together. IRCC warns that leaving out the biometrics fee causes delays.
5. Wait for the biometric instruction letter, then book an appointment at a visa application centre. You have 30 days from the letter. Take the letter and your passport.
6. IRCC processes the application. It may ask you for more information, an interview, a medical exam or a police certificate, and will tell you if so.
7. If the visa is approved, a letter in your IRCC account tells you how to submit your passport. IRCC says you cannot travel until the visa is in the passport, and that you should send the same passport you applied with.

Paper applications are for two cases only: people who cannot apply online, for example because of a disability, and people travelling on a document issued to a refugee, a stateless person or a non-citizen.

Documents IRCC lists for Nigeria

Every applicant uploads a clear colour copy of the passport: the page with your details and any page with a stamp, visa or marking. IRCC says the passport should be valid for at least six months from the date you plan to travel.

For Nigeria, IRCC’s application package adds the Lagos visa office’s “Additional Document Checklist” (form IMM 5873). It says you must provide:

• Passport and travel history: the bio-data page, every page with a visa or stamp from your current and previous passports, and copies of all current and expired visas from any country.
• Consent to verification of documents: the signed form on the last page of the checklist.
• Family Information form (IMM 5707), completed, dated and signed.
• Schedule 1 (IMM 5257 SCH1), if you answered yes to any of the background questions on the application form.
• Purpose of travel: a letter explaining the trip, with your itinerary, destinations, contacts in Canada and length of stay, and a provisional airline booking. The checklist adds that purchased tickets are neither required nor recommended.
• Invitation letter, if you are visiting someone: the purpose, dates, length of stay and the host’s contact details. Proof of the host’s status in Canada is optional.
• Proof of financial support: your bank statements for the past six months, plus supporting papers such as an employment letter, three months of pay slips, a pension statement, business registration or investment statements.
• If someone else is paying: a signed letter of financial support, a copy of their passport or photo ID, their bank statement, the source of their funds and a description of your relationship, all dated within six months of your application.

Depending on your situation, the checklist also asks for:

• If employed: pay slips for the last three months and a letter from your employer dated within two months of the application, stating your occupation, job description, position, salary, allowances, years of employment and authorised leave dates.
• If self-employed: business registration, tax clearance certificates, trade certificates, business licence and a certified business bank statement for the past six months.
• If studying: an official document confirming your registration at the institution.
• If travelling for business: a letter from your employer giving the purpose of the trip, your itinerary in Canada and who is paying, and a letter from the Canadian business confirming the dates and the nature of the business.
• Marriage and birth certificates for each family member, whether or not they are applying.
• For a child travelling alone or with one parent: a notarised consent letter from the parent who is not travelling, a copy of that parent’s passport bio-data page with signature, the child’s birth certificate and a school leave letter where it applies.

IRCC’s general page says the employer’s letter should be dated no earlier than three months before you apply. The Lagos checklist says two months, so go by the shorter period.

Documents must be in English or French or come with a certified translation. The checklist carries a warning worth quoting in substance: if you or anyone acting for you submits false documents or leaves out material facts, the application is refused, the refusal is recorded in Canada’s immigration database, and you may be barred from Canada for five years.

Biometrics in Nigeria

IRCC lists two visa application centres in Nigeria, in Lagos and Abuja, both run by VFS Global. If you are aged 14 to 79 you give fingerprints and a photograph there, by appointment.

VFS’s site blocks automated reading, so the addresses and the opening hours it showed, 8am to 5pm from Monday to Friday, are from the Internet Archive’s most recent readable copy of its page for Nigeria. Confirm them on IRCC’s list of visa application centres, which links to VFS, when you book.

IRCC says biometrics appointments are free and tells applicants not to pay anyone for one. If you cannot get a slot within the 30 days, IRCC says to tell it through its web form and attach a screenshot of your booking. VFS sells optional extras such as courier return and SMS updates. They are not part of IRCC’s requirements.

How long it takes

IRCC’s processing times tool shows 97 days for a visitor visa applied for from Nigeria. That is about 14 weeks. IRCC adds that the times are neither a maximum nor a guarantee, and that your application may take longer. The figure is updated regularly, so look at the tool again before you fix any dates.

IRCC’s “After you apply” page says it processes most visitor visa applications in a few weeks or less. For Nigeria its own tool says otherwise, and the tool is the number to plan around. The Lagos checklist gives the matching advice: do not make final travel arrangements until you have the visa.

Study permits and Express Entry

Both are separate programmes with their own requirements, fees and processing times. IRCC’s pages for the study permit and for Express Entry are the places to start.

Avoiding fraud

IRCC’s page on immigration scams opens its advice with one line: “No one can guarantee you a job or a visa to Canada.” The rest of what it says applies directly to a visitor visa:

• Only immigration officers can decide to issue a visa.
• Application forms and guides are free on IRCC’s website, and the application starts from Canada.ca. IRCC says to use its own site to find the visa application centre too.
• IRCC staff will never ask you to pay into a personal bank account or through a money transfer service, and they do not write from Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail addresses.
• IRCC does not send visas by email.
• Beware of anyone who promises guaranteed approval, says they can speed up your biometrics appointment for a fee, or advises you to lie on the form.
• You are responsible for everything in your application, even if someone else filled it in for you.

If you are comparing destinations, we have set out the UK visitor visa and the Dubai visa in the same way.

Quick answers

How much is the Canada visa fee in Nigeria?

CAN$100 for the visitor visa and CAN$85 for biometrics, so CAN$185 for one person. IRCC gives no naira price, and your card is charged the Canadian dollar amount at its own exchange rate.

How long does a Canada visitor visa take from Nigeria?

IRCC’s processing times tool shows 97 days for Nigeria, and says the figure is not a guarantee.

Where do I give biometrics for a Canada visa in Nigeria?

At the visa application centre in Lagos or Abuja. IRCC lists both, and VFS Global runs them. The appointment is free.

Do I need to buy a flight ticket before applying?

No. The Lagos visa office checklist asks for a provisional airline booking and says purchased tickets are neither required nor recommended.

Can I apply for a Canada visitor visa on paper?

IRCC says you must apply online, unless you cannot because of a disability or you travel on a refugee, stateless person’s or non-citizen’s document.