How Filipinos can enter Canada visa-free
MANILA, Philippines — This month, Filipinos are among the 12 nationalities who were allowed to enter Canada visa-free if they meet certain requirements.
The Canadian Embassy in the Philippines on June 7 announced the good news via a series of tweets.
Philippine travelers can enter through Canada's electronic travel authorization (eTA) program.
The program allows entry to Canada for Filipino citizens if they either 1.) held a Canadian visa in the last 10 years or 2.) currently hold a valid United States non-immigrant visa. When these have been met, Filipinos can travel Canada by air.
"Canada values our relationship with the Philippines. With the well-established Filipino diaspora in Canada, along with an increasing number of students and tourists from the Philippines, we recognize the importance of expanding and simplifying travel between our countries," said the embassy in a press statement.
According to the embassy, the eTA is "a digital travel document that most visa-exempt travellers need to travel to or transit through Canada by air."
It is an application used by Canadian officials to conduct "light-touch, pre-travel screening of air travellers."
MEDIA RELEASE
— Canada in the Philippines (@CanEmbPH) June 6, 2023
Eligible citizens from the Philippines now qualify for visa-free travel to Canada
Canada values our relationship with the Philippines. With the well-established Filipino diaspora in Canada, along with an increasing number of students and tourists from ????????,(1/16) pic.twitter.com/YQxpB0LBZa
The eTA costs $7 Canadian dollars (P295.27) to apply and most applications are automatically approved within minutes. Travelers need only a valid passport, a credit card, an email address and access to the Internet.
Apart from the Philippines, the visa-free entry to Canada were also extended to travelers from Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Costa Rica, Morocco, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.
Canada said it has issued 466,936 temporary resident visas to citizens from the Philippines in the last 10 years.
RELATED: Filipino tourists may visit South Korea’s Jeju Island, Yangyang visa-free beginning June
