Inadmissible grounds are an IRPA finding. A visitor visa refusal usually isn’t.

The letter and the Act are two decisions

Subsection 11(1) says a visa may be issued if, following an examination, the officer is satisfied that the foreign national is not inadmissible and meets the requirements of the Act. The first half is Division 4 of the Act. The second half, for a visitor, is section 179 of the Regulations. Paragraph 179(b) is the leave-Canada test: it has to be established that you’ll leave by the end of the authorized stay.

A letter that says the officer isn’t satisfied you’ll leave, and then lists purpose, funds, ties, or travel history, is a 179(b) refusal. You can apply again. The old file stays on the system. What has to change is the part of the file the letter named. That path is how to read the refusal letter.

A letter that names security, criminality, a medical result, misrepresentation, or an IRPA section from 34 to 42 is the other decision. Sending a thicker visitor file does not remove the ground. IRCC’s public list of reasons you may be inadmissible is the same set, in plainer words. The section numbers below are the ones on the statute, current to September 21, 2026.

The grounds are sections 34 to 42

Serious criminality and organized criminality apply to a permanent resident and a foreign national. Criminality under subsection 36(2), health, financial reasons, and sanctions apply to a foreign national. A permanent resident is not inadmissible for ordinary criminality under subsection 36(2).

IRCC’s inadmissibility overview is the public starting point. Where that page and the Act differ, the Act is the one an officer applies.

Impaired driving is serious criminality

Criminal Code section 320.19 makes operation while impaired, including by cannabis, a hybrid offence with a maximum of 10 years on indictment. Paragraph 36(3)(a) deems a hybrid offence indictable even when it was prosecuted summarily. Paragraph 36(1)(b) then treats a foreign conviction for the equivalent offence as serious criminality, because the Canadian maximum is at least 10 years. The sentence you actually received does not move it down to ordinary criminality.

Section 18 of the Regulations deems some people rehabilitated after 10 years, and after five years for two or more foreign summary offences. Both routes require an offence punishable in Canada by a maximum of less than 10 years. A 10-year maximum is outside that class. IRCC’s notice on impaired driving and immigration status says the same thing in operational language: you do not enter or stay unless a temporary resident permit is issued.

What does clear a criminal ground, when it applies:

• A Canadian record suspension that has not been revoked. Paragraph 36(3)(b) says inadmissibility may not be based on that conviction. A pardon from another country does not do this automatically. Guide 5312 says a conviction in Canada is dealt with by the Parole Board of Canada before you are admissible.
• Deemed rehabilitation under section 18, only for the class that section describes. One foreign offence with a Canadian maximum under 10 years, ten years after the sentence was completed, and no later conviction that knocks you out of the class.
• An individual rehabilitation application, five years after the sentence was completed, or five years after the act if there was no conviction. Guide 5312 says processing can take over a year. The fee is not refunded if it is refused.
• A temporary resident permit under section 24, if an officer finds it justified in the circumstances. It can be cancelled. It is not a finding that the ground is gone.

A youth sentence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, a finding of guilt under the former Young Offenders Act, and a contravention designated under the Contraventions Act are carved out by paragraph 36(3)(e). An adult sentence is not.

The fees on the current list

These are the inadmissibility lines on the IRCC fee list as retrieved on September 28, 2026. The Service Fees Act adjusts several of them. A December 1, 2023 notice had the temporary resident permit at $229.77 and serious-criminality rehabilitation at $1,148.87. The list is higher now. Use the list, not a screenshot of an older notice.

Authorization to return is section 52. Once a removal order has been enforced, you do not come back unless an officer authorizes it or a prescribed circumstance applies. The $492.50 fee is the application. It is separate from a temporary resident permit, and separate from rehabilitation.

Misrepresentation runs five years, from a specific date

Section 40 is a material fact, withheld or misstated, that induces or could induce an error in the administration of the Act. Paragraph 40(2)(a) keeps the person inadmissible for five years. Outside Canada, the clock starts at the final determination. In Canada, it starts the day the removal order is enforced. Paragraph 40(3) bars a permanent residence application during that period.

A 179(b) refusal does not start that clock. The letter has to be a misrepresentation finding. If yours is a purpose, funds, or ties refusal, the five-year bar is the wrong problem. The next step is the refusal letter, not a rehabilitation form.

A family member’s ground does not always travel with you

Section 42 makes a foreign national inadmissible because a family member is, or because they are accompanying someone who is. Subsection 42(2) cuts that down for a temporary resident, and for someone applying for temporary resident status. The family member’s ground counts only if it is section 34, 35, 35.1, or 37.

On a visitor visa, a spouse’s criminal conviction, medical condition, lack of funds, or misrepresentation finding does not make you inadmissible under section 42. Security, international rights violations, sanctions, and organized criminality still do. This exception is for temporary residence. A permanent residence application does not get the same cut-down.

Excessive demand is a cost test, not a diagnosis

Section 38 has three health grounds: danger to public health, danger to public safety, and excessive demand on health or social services. Section 1 of the Regulations defines excessive demand as anticipated costs above three times the average Canadian per capita health and social services cost over five consecutive years after the medical exam, or a demand that would add to a waiting list and increase mortality or morbidity because citizens and permanent residents could not be treated in time.

IRCC updates the dollar figure. The regulation is the test, and the figure is not in the Act. No condition is an automatic refusal: the help centre answer says officers look at the exam, the prognosis, the cost over the next five to ten years, and the effect on wait lists. Subsection 38(2) removes the excessive-demand ground for a sponsored spouse, common-law partner, or child, a Convention refugee, and a protected person. The danger grounds stay.

A mitigation plan is only available if IRCC invites one, and only in the procedural fairness response. It can cover outpatient medication and social services you will pay for. It cannot opt you out of publicly funded health services.

What this does not decide

This page maps the grounds and the fees. It does not equate your offence to the Criminal Code, and it does not tell you that you are deemed rehabilitated. That depends on the statute of the place of the conviction, the sentence completion date, and every later conviction. Guide 5312 says the explanations in the guide are not legal definitions.

If the PDF cites 179(b), use the letter. If it cites a section in this table, a resubmission pack is the wrong instrument. A Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant or a lawyer is the one who files rehabilitation, a temporary resident permit, or an authorization to return.

Canada Inadmissibility Grounds FAQ

Related

• A visitor visa refusal starts with the letter
• What to do after a visitor visa refusal

Sources

• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, current to September 21, 2026, last amended March 26, 2026
• IRPA section 11 — visa only if not inadmissible and the requirements are met
• IRPA sections 34 to 42 — the inadmissibility grounds
• IRPA section 24 — temporary resident permit
• IRPA section 52 — no return after an enforced removal without authorization
• IRPR section 1 — definition of excessive demand
• IRPR section 18 — deemed rehabilitation
• IRPR section 179 — temporary resident visa
• Criminal Code section 320.19 — impaired operation, maximum 10 years
• IRCC fee list — inadmissibility fees, retrieved September 28, 2026
• IRCC — Reasons you may be inadmissible
• IRCC — Rehabilitation for past criminal activity (guide 5312)
• IRCC — Overcome criminal convictions
• IRCC — Temporary resident permits

General information from the regulation and IRCC’s public pages. Not legal advice. Not a prediction of a visa decision.