By admin (May 21, 2024)
Visa Free Travel to 13 Countries Has Been Introduced By Canada
Visa free travel to 13 countries has been introduced by Canada as announced by Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser.
Temporary Residence Visa will not be required by passport holders from 13 countries to travel Canada. However, this applies only to travelers from these countries who currently hold a valid United States Non-Immigrant visa or held a Canadian visa in last 10 years.
Passport holders from Morocco, Philippines, Antigua and Barbuda, Panama, Costa Rica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Thailand, Seychelles, and Argentina are the eligible travelers.
Fraser said that pre travel screening will be much faster, easier and affordable as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been working on it. Thousands of applications will be diverted from Canada’s visa caseload due to this decision allowing IRCC to process visa applications more efficiently.
In 2017, similar pilot program was introduced in Brazil. Visitors were increased by 40% in Brazil, marking the success of this program. Caseload of IRCC’s Sao Paulo office has also been reduced by 60% which freed IRCC officers to work on more complex applications.
Canada Visa Free Travel
More than 50 countries can enter Canada without a visa, but if they are arriving by air, most of them require an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA).
USA citizens require neither an eTA nor a visa to enter Canada unless they are moving Canada to study or work. Temporary Residence Visa (TRV) must be obtained by nationals of the countries that are not exempt from obtaining a visa, which is also known as visitor visa.
An individual is allowed to visit Canada by a Temporary Residence Visa (TRV) for a period of six months. TRV Holder may not have the permission to Study in Canada or Work in Canada and they may further be asked to demonstrate that their purpose of visit is temporary like visiting family or tourism at their port of entry.
There is a backlog of TRV applications IRCC is currently working through. 50% of TRV applications are not being processed within service standards, which is 14 days as shown by the latest backlog data from IRCC. The recent strike by the Public Service Alliance of Canada impacted the TRV applications as stated by Minister Fraser.
100,000 applications were not processed during the period of 12 day strike that lasted from April 19 until May 1. IRCC is expected to catch up to pre-pandemic processing standard within the coming weeks or a few months.Canada Immigration News will soon provide you more updates about visa free countries for Canada.