In the latest announcement related to visa free travel to Canada, the IRCC’s Minister, Sean Fraser announced that the list of visa free countries is about to grow.
In the already available list of visa free countries, 13 more were added. This will make it easier for travelers coming to Canada for a short duration of time.
A few of the newly added countries are- Uruguay, Panama, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and Seychelles. If you are traveling to Canada from these countries by air, then you don’t need to apply for a visa.
Some of these countries such as St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Seychelles, and Trinidad and Tobago are also visa free countries from India !
This is important news for those looking to go on a vacation but not go through the visa application. However, there are some conditions to this too.
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Visa Free Travel to Canada- Newly Added Countries
In the latest announcement, Sean Fraser, the Immigration Minister of Canada announced the addition of 13 more countries to the eTA program. An eTA is an electronic travel authorization issued to travelers instead of a visitor visa if they are coming through the air.
To say it simply, tourists from various eligible countries are able to visit Canada without a visa for a short period of time. But the individual traveling must have a Canadian visa in the previous 10 years to apply for an eTA. They may also have a United States non-immigrant visa to do so.
The news became effective immediately after the announcement.
These are the Countries Mentioned:-
- Panama
- Argentina
- St. Kitts and Nevis
- Philippines
- Uruguay
- Antigua and Barbuda
- St. Lucia
- Costa Rica
- Seychelles
- Morocco
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Thailand
Benefits of Visa Free Travel
For the travelers, they get to simply breathe a sigh of relief as they don’t need to worry about issuing a visa. If you want to make a visit to Canada for a short journey, say for a vacation or to attend a business meeting, you can do so without needing to apply for a temporary visa.
For the Canadian economy, this change will mean growth as a greater number of tourists would be able to visit the nation. And this will result in the growth of Canada’s economy as industries such as tourism, travel, and international business will be promoted.
Moreover, the bond between these countries and Canada will become deeper, and more stable.
As for the IRCC workers, this will expedite the processing of visa applications. The labor strike that happened from 19th April and lasted till 1st of May halted the processing of around 100,000 visa applications.
From the backlog data, one can see that this really made the workload heavier and the usual 14 days temporary residence visa processing time became hard to accomplish for the workers.
Hence, if more and more travelers have the option to apply for an eTA rather than a visitor visa or a temporary resident visa, it will be much easier for the workers processing those applications too.
Do Read: Jobs in Abroad for Indians!
