Hello everyone,
As I published in a recent topic, France seems to have removed the visa requirement for the holders of Canadian rtd (information to confirm, I ALWAYS invite you to call the consulate of the country you want to visit, before paying your plane ticket, I also advise to travel with his permanent resident card too, in case ...), but the information seems credible however, it comes from the official website france-visa.
As you all know, visa requirements for protected persons in Canada are a big gray area, and every European country seemed to have its own policy until now ...
But in the perspective of the imposition of an e-visa for Canadian citizens of January 2021 by the entire euro area, a more common policy seems to be decided, and it is from this perspective, I believe, that the commision europeene has recently published a document urging all countries to remove the visa requirement for a list of countries (of which canada is a part), for citizens, in addition to the holders of refugee travel documents issued by these same countries.
We are talking about appendix ii, and I quote:
2. A Member State may exempt from the visa requirement:
(a) a school pupil having the nationality of a third country listed in Annex I who resides in a third country listed in Annex II or in Switzerland and Liechtenstein and is travelling in the context of a school excursion as a member of a group of school pupils accompanied by a teacher from the school in question;
(b) recognised refugees and stateless persons if the third country where they reside and which issued their travel document is one of the third countries listed in Annex II; **
(c) members of the armed forces travelling on NATO or Partnership for Peace business and holders of identification and movement orders provided for by the Agreement of 19 June 1951 between the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation regarding the status of their forces;
Here is the source of the document:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02001R0539-20140609&from=EN
**Canada is one of those countries, the list is at the bottom of the document.
The document is a directive (the word used is '' can '', not '' must '') .
In the short term, not all European countries seem to have complied with this guideline, unless the case of Cyprus, which immediately removed the visa requirement for holders of Canadian rtd, is removed.
Take a test on skyteam (to have this result, forget your country of origin, and put "refugee 1951" in the nationality zone), you will have this result, I quote:
'' Visa est un exigante pour les passengers holding a Travel Document '' issued in accordance with the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to Refugees issued by a European Union or Schengen Area Member State, or a country listed in Annex II to the Council Regulation 539/2001. These documents are accepted in lieu of a passport. Maximum stay of 90 days. ''
Another country also seems to have followed this non-binding directive (but it is also very recent, the site of the embassy of this country in Canada still asserts that a visa is required for the holders of Canadian rtd!) ... I am talking about Iceland.
Indeed, the official Belgian immigration website has just updated the table of visa requirements for documents, in an exel file, and we can see a '' yes '' in the box below the symbol '' SI '' (for Iceland).
Bulgaria also '' BG '' seems to have skipped the visa requirement + this table confirms the exemption for Italy. (but not for France). Look at Exel sheet 4, entitled '' 2. Exemption from the visa requirement in accordance with Article 6 (2) ''
See the two links here:
https://sif-gid.ibz.be/EN/ss_visa_spéciales.aspx (French)
https://sif-gid.ibz.be/FR/DownloadHandler.ashx?pg=4bf5cc80-75f0-47a7-b2ec-ee6d0c7f59bb§ion=5c027572-dceb-4a3b-973d-2532f864e4ea&file=Annex+5+of+Visa+code+ Information + on + national + derogations + from + the + visa + requirement + .xlsx (The exel table, in English)
If the second link dont work , just clik on text ''
Annex 5 of Visa code Information on national derogations from the visa requirement .xlsx (0,3 MB)
'' in the bottom of first link page .
Finally, why do I talk about 2021 in the title? ... two elements:
The countries of the Schengen area will indeed impose an e-visa for Canadian citizens of that date ... Even if they will need an electronic visa, why not the holders of Canadian rtd? ... Even Germany will ask for this formality (very easy, just pay about 7 euro online, and approval in 24 hours maximum).
The system will be centralized on one and the same site ... Which explains, I think in my opinion, the new directive.
It is a suposition, therefore, my suposition: everything seems to indicate that the visa requirement will jump for Canadian holders of the 2021, for all the Schengen area countries.
I quote :
'' Which travelers are affected?
ETIAS to enter any ETIAS member country such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others others, will need an approved along with other ETIAS member countries.
All travelers, regardless of age, will be required to obtain an ETIAS, and the authorization will be valid for 3 years or until the date of passport expiry. ''
** Source: official website of the future online visa system for Europe ETIAS: https://etias.com/etias-confirmed-for-2021
What do you think of all this?
As I published in a recent topic, France seems to have removed the visa requirement for the holders of Canadian rtd (information to confirm, I ALWAYS invite you to call the consulate of the country you want to visit, before paying your plane ticket, I also advise to travel with his permanent resident card too, in case ...), but the information seems credible however, it comes from the official website france-visa.
As you all know, visa requirements for protected persons in Canada are a big gray area, and every European country seemed to have its own policy until now ...
But in the perspective of the imposition of an e-visa for Canadian citizens of January 2021 by the entire euro area, a more common policy seems to be decided, and it is from this perspective, I believe, that the commision europeene has recently published a document urging all countries to remove the visa requirement for a list of countries (of which canada is a part), for citizens, in addition to the holders of refugee travel documents issued by these same countries.
We are talking about appendix ii, and I quote:
2. A Member State may exempt from the visa requirement:
(a) a school pupil having the nationality of a third country listed in Annex I who resides in a third country listed in Annex II or in Switzerland and Liechtenstein and is travelling in the context of a school excursion as a member of a group of school pupils accompanied by a teacher from the school in question;
(b) recognised refugees and stateless persons if the third country where they reside and which issued their travel document is one of the third countries listed in Annex II; **
(c) members of the armed forces travelling on NATO or Partnership for Peace business and holders of identification and movement orders provided for by the Agreement of 19 June 1951 between the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation regarding the status of their forces;
Here is the source of the document:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02001R0539-20140609&from=EN
**Canada is one of those countries, the list is at the bottom of the document.
The document is a directive (the word used is '' can '', not '' must '') .
In the short term, not all European countries seem to have complied with this guideline, unless the case of Cyprus, which immediately removed the visa requirement for holders of Canadian rtd, is removed.
Take a test on skyteam (to have this result, forget your country of origin, and put "refugee 1951" in the nationality zone), you will have this result, I quote:
'' Visa est un exigante pour les passengers holding a Travel Document '' issued in accordance with the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to Refugees issued by a European Union or Schengen Area Member State, or a country listed in Annex II to the Council Regulation 539/2001. These documents are accepted in lieu of a passport. Maximum stay of 90 days. ''
Another country also seems to have followed this non-binding directive (but it is also very recent, the site of the embassy of this country in Canada still asserts that a visa is required for the holders of Canadian rtd!) ... I am talking about Iceland.
Indeed, the official Belgian immigration website has just updated the table of visa requirements for documents, in an exel file, and we can see a '' yes '' in the box below the symbol '' SI '' (for Iceland).
Bulgaria also '' BG '' seems to have skipped the visa requirement + this table confirms the exemption for Italy. (but not for France). Look at Exel sheet 4, entitled '' 2. Exemption from the visa requirement in accordance with Article 6 (2) ''
See the two links here:
https://sif-gid.ibz.be/EN/ss_visa_spéciales.aspx (French)
https://sif-gid.ibz.be/FR/DownloadHandler.ashx?pg=4bf5cc80-75f0-47a7-b2ec-ee6d0c7f59bb§ion=5c027572-dceb-4a3b-973d-2532f864e4ea&file=Annex+5+of+Visa+code+ Information + on + national + derogations + from + the + visa + requirement + .xlsx (The exel table, in English)
If the second link dont work , just clik on text ''
Annex 5 of Visa code Information on national derogations from the visa requirement .xlsx (0,3 MB)
'' in the bottom of first link page .
Finally, why do I talk about 2021 in the title? ... two elements:
The countries of the Schengen area will indeed impose an e-visa for Canadian citizens of that date ... Even if they will need an electronic visa, why not the holders of Canadian rtd? ... Even Germany will ask for this formality (very easy, just pay about 7 euro online, and approval in 24 hours maximum).
The system will be centralized on one and the same site ... Which explains, I think in my opinion, the new directive.
It is a suposition, therefore, my suposition: everything seems to indicate that the visa requirement will jump for Canadian holders of the 2021, for all the Schengen area countries.
I quote :
'' Which travelers are affected?
ETIAS to enter any ETIAS member country such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others others, will need an approved along with other ETIAS member countries.
All travelers, regardless of age, will be required to obtain an ETIAS, and the authorization will be valid for 3 years or until the date of passport expiry. ''
** Source: official website of the future online visa system for Europe ETIAS: https://etias.com/etias-confirmed-for-2021
What do you think of all this?
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