Canada to Promote Long Term Multiple Entry Visas

Good news to those who have complained (and there are many) that while they had no problem getting a 10-year multiple entry visa to the United States they could only get a 6 month-single entry visitor visa to Canada.

On June 3, 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada wrote an e-mail to all embassies abroad. The e-mail encourages embassies to issue long term multiple-entry visas wherever possible, especially for those who are already in the permanent resident (PR) queue and business travelers.

Recently re-iterated in an Operational Bulletin, CIC has specifically instructed that such visas should be issued for as long a validity period as possible. Immigration guidelines states that the maximum validity period of a multiple entry visa is for the validity of an applicant’s passport, minus one month. According to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada e-mail, embassies should issue multiple-entry visas up to the expiry of an applicant’s passport where appropriate, and even cites the example of the 10-year multiple entry visa as an appropriate example.

Indeed, the Operational Bulletin specifically notes that “the Department is moving towards the issuance of long term multiple-entry visas as the norm.” It then goes on to add teeth to that statement, instructing that:

If an officer chooses to issue a long term multiple-entry visa for less than the full validity period of the passport (up to 10 years minus one month), the reasons are to be entered in the case notes.

Visa officers need to take note that issuance of a multiple-entry visa should now be considered to be the norm and any single-entry visa issuance needs explanation if a multiple-entry visa could have been issued (fee paid).

If the applicant requests a single-entry visa and the officer could have issued a multiple-entry visa,

The Mexican Visa Requirement to Visit Canada

On July 14, 2009, the Canadian government introduced a Temporary Resident Visa (“TRV”) requirement for Mexican nationals. The decision was and continues to be extremely controversial. Mexico responded by slapping a visa requirement on Canadian diplomats. During the 2011 Federal Election campaign, the Liberal Party promised to revoke the visa requirement. On May 9, 2011, the Globe and Mail featured an editorial titled “The Visa for visiting Mexicans has run its course.”

I believe that once Bill C-11 is in full affect, the costs of the TRV requirement will far outweigh its benefits, if they do not already.

Acknowledging the Success of the TRV Requirement

There is no question that the TRV requirement has reduced the number of refugee claimants from Mexico. In the first three months of 2009, 2,757 Mexicans applied for refugee status. During the same period in 2010 the number was 384.

The acceptance rate, which was always low, continues to hover at around 10%.

The Inconvenience to Travelers is Massive

While the TRV requirement has reduced the number of Mexican refugee claimants, it has also greatly inconvenienced tens of thousands of Mexicans, and deterred many hundreds of thousands more from coming to Canada.

In 2010, the Canadian embassy in Mexico City processed 57,966 temporary resident visa applications. The Mexico City embassy is only responsible for processing temporary resident visa applications for people who have been residing in Mexico with status. From 2006-2008, the Mexico City embassy processed an average of 1,500 temporary resident visa applications. Assuming this number remained constant in 2010, then it can be assumed that in 2010 approximately 55,500 Mexican nationals applied for a visa to visit Canada. Indeed, Mexicans have gone from not having to apply for a temporary resident visa to being the second largest applicant source country.

The Transit Without Visa Program and the China Transit Trial Program

In order to improve the competitiveness of Canadian airports, the Canadian government has programs so that people who are transiting to Canada to get to the United States do not need to apply for temporary resident visas.

The Transit Without Visa Program

The Transit Without Visa Program (“TWOV Program”) allows certain foreign nationals with valid United States visas, traveling to and from the United States, to transit through Canada without having to first obtain a Canadian visa.

The TWOV Program operates at both Vancouver International Airport and Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.

The program only applies to nationals of Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand.

In order to be eligible to travel under the TWOV Program, nationals of these countries must:

be in possession of a valid visa issued by the United States;
be in possession of a valid passport issued by the authorities of a participating country;
hold a confirmed onward ticket for a connecting flight that departs Canada immediately (foreign nationals transiting Canada under the TWOV Program may not seek entry to Canada as temporary residents);
arrive in Canada on an eligible airline; and
transit through either Vancouver International Airport or Toronto Pearson Airport.

The eligible airlines are Cathay Pacific Airways, Philippine Airways, Air Canada, and Jazz Aviation LP.

The China Transit Trial Program

The China Transit Trial Program (“CCT Program”) allows nationals of the Peoples’ Republic of China with valid United States visas, traveling to and from the United States, to transit through Canada without having to first obtain a Canadian visa.

The TWOV Program operates at both Vancouver International Airport and Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.

Chinese nationals participating in the CTT Program must have as their last embarkation point one of the following six cities:

Beijing;

Visa Requirement Removed for Taiwan

Effective November 22, 2010, holders of ordinary Taiwan passports that contain a personal identification number and are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan will no longer require a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) to visit Canada.