Visa restrictions to be lifted for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens from 1 December 2017

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The Minister of Immigration has announced that visa requirements for citizens of Bulgaria and Romania will be lifted as of 1 December 2017.

Even before that date, Canada hopes to implement a partial lift that will exempt certain Romanian and Bulgarian citizens by 1 May 2017.  

This would apply to citizens of those countries who, at the time of intended travel to Canada, had held any kind of Canadian temporary resident visa during the immediately preceding 10-year period, or who hold a valid U.S. non-immigrant visa.

Please note that when the visa exemption becomes applicable to any individual Romanian or Bulgarian citizen, he/she would still require the new Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) to fly to Canada  (eTAs became mandatory on 10 November 2016).

Though not directly linked to CETA (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) between Canada and the European Union now under consideration, this is reflective of Canada’s interest in broadening its ties with Europe generally.

Further information

For further information or to discuss any of the issues raised, please contact Benjamin A Kranc at bkranc@kranclaw.com on Tel: + 1 (416) 977 7500.

Resources

More information about eTAs and their implementation can be found at http://bit.ly/1TW6ZEG and http://bit.ly/2cBKFRz/

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