Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Minister, Mr. Fraser paid a visit to Winnipeg to proclaim the news of visa-free air travel for citizens from 13 nations.
Those who possess a passport from these thirteen countries will now be able to enter Canada by air without having to obtain a Temporary Residence Visa.
Nevertheless, this applies only to travelers from those countries who have either held a Canadian visa within the past decade or are presently holding a valid United States non-immigrant visa. Nationals of the following countries are eligible for this waiver:
- Philippines
- Morocco
- Panama
- Antigua and Barbuda
- St Kitts and Nevis
- St Lucia
- St Vincent and Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Argentina
- Costa Rica
- Uruguay
- Seychelles
- Thailand
Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration
According to Mr. Fraser, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been making efforts to simplify the pre-travel assessment process, and make it quicker and more affordable. He believes this decision will draw away many applications from Canada’s visa workload, thus allowing IRCC to go through visa requests in an expedited manner.
An analogous trial program was established in Brazil back in 2017. According to the minister, this initiative has been highly effective — it triggered an upsurge in visitors from Brazil by 40%. This dramatically lessened the work capacity of IRCC’s office in São Paulo by 60%. This allowed IRCC officers to focus on more complex cases.
