A family whose mother-in-law was on a visitor visa in Canada took a 3-day land-border trip to the US partway through her stay, and asked whether re-entering Canada afterward restarted her 6-month authorized stay period from the new entry date.
What the group clarified:- A short trip to the US and back is not treated as exiting your original period of authorized stay in Canada. Your original 6-month clock (counted from your first entry) keeps running — it does not reset or restart because you briefly left and came back via land border.
- Practical implication: she must exit Canada or apply to extend her stay before the end of the original 6-month period (counted from her July 1 entry, so by around January 1), not from the later November 26 land-border re-entry.
Practical takeaway:- Track your authorized stay deadline from your very first entry date into Canada, not from any subsequent short trips abroad and back.
- If you're near the end of your authorized stay and plan to remain in Canada, apply to extend before the original deadline — don't assume a border crossing buys you extra time.
- Border officers may ask for proof of onward/return travel plans on a visitor visa; have that ready regardless of how close you are to your stay limit.