March 30, 2009

Visitor Visa Exemption - Visiting Canada


There are certain group of people who are exempted from visa requirement in visiting Canada. Unlike Filipino Citizens visiting Canada, the following people are no longer required to apply for visitor visa.

  • citizens of Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Botswana, Brunei, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel (National Passport holders only), Italy, Japan, Korea (Republic of), Latvia (Republic of), Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Slovenia, Switzerland, United States, and Western Samoa;

  • persons lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence who are in possession of their alien registration card (Green card) or can provide other evidence of permanent residence;

  • British citizens and British Overseas Citizens who are re-admissible to the United Kingdom;

  • citizens of British dependent territories who derive their citizenship through birth, descent, registration or naturalization in one of the British dependent territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena or the Turks and Caicos Islands;

  • persons holding a British National (Overseas) Passport issued by the Government of the United Kingdom to persons born, naturalized or registered in Hong Kong;

  • persons holding a valid and subsisting Special Administrative Region passport issued by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China;

  • persons holding passports or travel documents issued by the Holy See.


  • The above list of Visitor Visa Exemptions may be updated from time to time. Just recently, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced that Visitors from Croatia no longer require visa to come to Canada. So to get the updated list, please refer to Citizneship and Immigration Canada official website: http://cic.gc.ca

    UPDATES
    July 13, 2009 - Canada imposes a visa on the Czech Republic and Mexico
    Nov 23, 2010 - Canada lifts visa requirement for visitors from Taiwan