Canada has opened a visa-free travel program for Filipinos who meet the eligibility criteria.
In a statement on Wednesday, Canada’s embassy in Manila announced that the Philippines had been added to the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) program, along with 12 other countries.
This means Filipinos who have either held a Canadian visa in the last 10 years or who currently hold a valid United States non-immigrant visa can now apply for an eTA instead of a visa when traveling to Canada by air.
“Introducing visa-free air travel will make it faster, easier, and more affordable for thousands of known travelers from the Philippines to visit Canada for up to 6 months for either business or leisure,” the Canadian embassy said.
”It will also help facilitate more travel, tourism and international business between our countries, and help strengthen people-to-people and cultural ties.”
Those who already have a valid visa can continue to use it to travel to Canada, the embassy said.
However, those who are not eligible for an eTA or who are traveling to Canada by means other than air (for example, by car, bus, train, and boat—including by cruise ship) will still need a visitor visa, it added.
The embassy said Canada has issued 466,936 temporary resident visas to Filipinos in the last 10 years.
