The Minister of Immigration has announced that effective December 1, 2017, visa requirements for citizens of Bulgaria and Romania will be lifted.
Even before that date, Canada hopes to implement a partial lift that will exempt certain Romanian and Bulgarian citizens by May 1, 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 will become mandatory on Nov. 10. More information about eTAs and their implementation can be found at http://bit.ly/1TW6ZEG and http://bit.ly/2cBKFRz).
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.
The information in this article is for general purposes only, and not intended as legal advice for any particular situation.