This reason is ticked most often when the applicant has close relatives in Canada and few evidenced ties at home. The answer is not to hide the relatives. It is to put the other side of the balance into the file.
IRPR 179(b), refusal reason: family ties in Canada and in country of residence
I am not satisfied that you will leave Canada at the end of your stay, based on your family ties in Canada and in your country of residence.
The balance between who is here and who is there. Close family in Canada is not a bar, but it is weighed against what you are returning to.
(b) will leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay under Division 2;
Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, section 179, IRPR 179(b)
the ties to their home country are sufficiently strong to ensure that they are motivated to return home after the visit to Canada
Visitors: eligibility and admissibility considerations (program delivery instructions), Purpose of the questions
Who is in Canada, and who is at home. A sibling in Toronto is not a ground on its own. A sibling in Toronto, no spouse, no dependants, no property and no employment letter is a ground, because one side of the balance is documented and the other is not.
Leaving relatives in Canada off the form. IRCC usually knows, and the ground shifts from ties to misrepresentation, which carries a five-year bar. Declare them, and then evidence what is at home.
Marriage certificate and children's birth certificates. Evidence of dependants who remain during the visit. Property in your own name. An employment letter with approved leave. Care responsibilities documented by a medical or school letter.
Reapply with the balance documented. There is no appeal against a visitor visa refusal, and there is no limit on how often you may apply.
There is no appeal against a visitor visa refusal and no limit on reapplying. A new application is assessed on its own evidence, so it only helps if the ticked reasons are answered and something has changed.
Judicial review asks the Federal Court whether the decision was reasonable. It does not re-decide the application, it needs leave, and it needs a Canadian lawyer. The deadline is 60 days from the decision for an applicant outside Canada.
This route needs a regulated adviser.
IRCC refusal letters tick reasons from a fixed list and cite paragraph 179(b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. The officer's notes in the Global Case Management System give the fuller reasoning and can be requested.
Our software reads the refusal, names the grounds and the route, checks every ground against your documents with the refused ones held open, and writes the reapplication letter that answers each one by its reference. Re-runs and second-refusal handling included for 30 days.