Ottawa eases visa rule for visitors from 13 countries, including the Philippines

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This article was published 06/06/2023 (1167 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada’s decision to ease air-travel visa requirements for visitors from 13 additional countries is cause for celebration in Manitoba’s Filipino community.

“It will bring families together quicker,” said Kevin Lamoureux, the Liberal member of Parliament for Winnipeg North.

He said his riding office receives hundreds of requests each month to write letters of support as part of visa applications for his constituents’ families in the Philippines who want to visit Manitoba.

“There is no other file which draws more attention from my office,” said Lamoureux, who was on hand for the official government announcement at Winnipeg’s airport Tuesday.

Sean Fraser, Canada’s immigration, refugees and citizenship minister, came to the city to announce the federal government is expanding its visa-free travel program: previous visitors from some Caribbean, South American, African and Southeast Asian countries can come to Canada without waiting weeks or months for visa approval.

Instead of a visa, eligible travellers can submit an online application, called an electronic travel authorization, for $7. That compares with $100 or more to get a traditional travel visa.

The eased regulations will apply to those the federal government calls “known travellers”: anyone who’s had a valid Canadian travel visa within the past 10 years, or anyone who currently holds a U.S. visa.

“This is a sea change in the way that we do travel in Canada,” Fraser said.

In a 2017 pilot project, visa requirements were waived for travellers from Brazil, Bulgaria and Romania.

Fraser said the government recognized “extraordinary benefits” from the uptick in Brazilian visitors to Canada and decided to expand the visa-free program.

There was a 40 per cent increase in the number of visitors from Brazil in 2017, prompting airlines to offer more flights between the two countries, and caseloads in Canadian visa offices fell by 60 per cent due to less paperwork.

Fraser said he expects the change to boost Canada’s economy, especially its tourism sector, and make family visits easier and more affordable, “and it’ll have a very important positive impact on immigration processing as well.”

The traditional visa process can take anywhere from one to six months, Lamoureux said, and can be particularly busy leading up to wedding season.

“It could cost you $185 just to be able to go and visit your sister, and you’re waiting weeks, in all likelihood months, for a decision to be made. Now, if you come to Canada, you just go online, within minutes, you could be given permission to come to Canada,” he said. “It’s night and day.”

He said the change will affect thousands in Winnipeg North, which is roughly 38 per cent Filipino. With 100,000 Filipinos living in Manitoba, the province is home to one of the largest Filipino communities in Canada.

Notre Dame MLA Malaya Marcelino, the provincial NDP’s labour and immigration critic who is of Filipino descent, said her office also receives many requests for help with travel visa applications, especially leading up to summer.

“It’s certainly going to make things a lot easier. It is a lot of work. There’s a long process people have to go through,” she said, adding the change is a signal Canada values its relationship with the Philippines.

The rules take effect immediately for eligible visitors from the following countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Costa Rica, Morocco, Panama, Philippines, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com