The Romanian citizens who have held a Canadian visa in the last ten years or who hold a U.S. non-immigrant visa will no longer need to apply for a Canadian visa, shows a letter sent by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to his counterpart Victor Ponta.
According to Agerpres, the Romanian Prime Minister on Wednesday announced that the visa regime for the citizens of Romania wanting to go to Canada will relax starting next year, with the introduction of the Electronic Travel Authorization program.
"A good and much expected piece of news for the Romanians wanting to go to Canada! Prime Minister Stephen Harper communicated to me the relaxation of the visa regime through the implementation of the eTA program [Electronic Travel Authorization] in 2016!," Victor Ponta wrote on Facebook, attaching to the post the letter addressed to him by his Canadian counterpart.
In the letter, the Canadian Prime Minister says that "this exemption will facilitate travel for many Romanian citizens to Canada."
"Canada will implement an Electronic Travel Authorization program (eTA) in 2016. Soon after eTA is implemented, Romanian citizens who have held a Canadian visa in the last ten years or who hold a U.S. non-immigrant visa will no longer need to apply for a Canadian visa. Instead, they will require only an eTA, which is similar to the United States' Electronic System for Travel Authorization, and consequently will be treated in the same manner as other visa-free European travellers to Canada. (...) I hope that this innovation will enhance and deepen the already strong people-to-people and economic ties between our two nations which only stands to grow with the ratification and implementation of the Canada-European Union Trade Agreement," reads Stephen Harper's letter.