Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - September 2007
Canada is being called on to lift its visa requirements on new European Union states, according to The Globe and Mail. The newspaper has reported access to a new report by the EU executive, to be issued this week, was that if Canada does not ease up on travel restrictions, the country will "face possible retaliatory steps." What exactly those steps may be is an issue yet to be clarified by the European Union but experts are currently predicting little beyond political pressure.
Nations such as Slovenia and Cyprus have enjoyed visa-free travel to Canada since becoming members of the EU. Yet there are currently eight new EU member states still waiting for Canadian travel restrictions to be lifted. They feel that the policy betrays "unjustified immigration fears."
The recommendations were not restricted to Canadian travel policies. The United States was also chastised for its lack of expediency in lifting visa requirements for new members to the EU.
However, The Globe and Mail points out that visa policies, though initially intended to thwart illegal immigration, have been re-examined and tightened since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and are now viewed by both policy-makers and the general public - in both Canada and the U.S. - as another form of national security and protection against terrorism. And there may be very little that EU politicians can do to alter this perspective.
Source: The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20070917.wvisas0917/EmailBNStory/National/
