Visa requirements for Canadian citizens

Canadian citizens can enter all 29 Schengen states without a visa, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole area.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, Canada and 54 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

No country asks holders of the Canadian passport for a visa beforehand while its own citizens enter Canada without one.

The reverse holds for 101 countries: holders of the Canadian passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Canada (Albania, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia and 96 others).

17 countries ask holders of the Canadian passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 12 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Canada.

5 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Canada, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Canada, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in the United States (3).

The United States refused 53% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Canada in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 147 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 49 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Canada refused 9% of short-stay visa applications in 2025 (all Schengen consulates worldwide: 15%). Among the 74 countries where they received at least 10,000 applications, that is the 57th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Canadian passport

By continent, the Canadian passport is visa-free in 44 countries in Europe, 29 countries in the Americas, 19 countries in Asia, 17 countries in Africa and 4 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Canadian citizens are allowed in Georgia (360 days), the Bahamas (240 days), Antigua and Barbuda (180 days), Barbados (180 days), Costa Rica (180 days) and Dominica (180 days).

Visa on arrival

Canadian citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, the Comoros, Djibouti and 28 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Canadian citizens enter Azerbaijan, Benin, Bhutan, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad and 19 others. Australia, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kenya, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and the United Kingdom ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Canada’s neighbours

The United States admits Canadian citizens without a visa.

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the US passport ranks 41st (154 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 1 can enter visa-free, 53 need an ETA, 143 need a visa from an embassy or consulate and 1 is not admitted for Canada.