Canada Names 1 Country Whose Citizens Can Enter With an ePassport Instead of Visa
- Canada officially named Romania as the country whose citizens can enter by air without a visa under a specific passport condition
- The Canadian government explained why it is restricting the visa exemption to holders of Romanian electronic passports only
- A separate rule also applies to Romanian citizens who obtained an electronic travel authorisation before a key deadline
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Canada has confirmed that Romanian citizens are eligible to enter the country by air without a visa, provided they hold a specific type of passport.
According to information published on the Canadian government's official website, the visa exemption for Romanian nationals applies exclusively to those who carry an electronic passport, also known as an e-passport. This is a machine-readable passport that contains a contactless integrated circuit chip and is issued by Romania.
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Why Canada restricts the exemption to electronic passports
The Canadian government explained its reasoning behind limiting the exemption to electronic passport holders. The statement on the Canadian website reads:
"The Romanian temporary passport issuance process is faster, as it is intended for emergency and special circumstances, and does not involve the collection of the same level of information as the issuance process for the electronic version (e.g. biometric information). Therefore, Canada is restricting its visa exemption to Romanian citizens who hold electronic passports."
In short, because Romanian temporary passports are issued without collecting the same level of personal and biometric data as electronic versions, Canada does not extend the visa-free benefit to holders of those documents.
What Romanian citizens need to know
There is an additional provision for Romanian travellers who had already made arrangements before the rules were updated. A Romanian citizen who secured an electronic travel authorisation before 1 December 2017 may also qualify for the visa exemption when entering Canada by air, even if their travel documentation falls outside the standard requirements outlined above.
For all other Romanian nationals who do not hold a valid electronic passport or a pre-December 2017 travel authorisation, a temporary resident visa remains a requirement for entry into Canada
Port-of-entry work permit: Canada lists countries eligible
Meanwhile, Legit.ng recently reported that Canada had published the full list of countries and territories whose citizens may be eligible to apply for a work permit at a port of entry instead of applying before travelling.
The list includes several European, Asian, and Pacific countries, while most African countries are not included among Canada’s visa-exempt countries and territories.
Source: Legit.ng
