The Government of Canada informed on Tuesday, June 6 that Elimination of the visa requirement for Costa Ricans under two conditions.

The announcement was made official by a press conference broadcast on Facebook Live at 10:30 a.m. Costa Rican time.

The Canadian visa waiver will only be granted in two scenarios: when the person has a US visa or when they have had a Canadian visa in the last 10 years, according to Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada at the conference.

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This change will apply to Costa Rica and 12 other countries: Panama, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Uruguay, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, Philippines and Morocco.

Who is coming?

The visa waiver is intended for people who meet one of the two conditions, who now can request a electronic travel authorization (ETA)a digital travel document that is requested online and costs $7.

ETA will allow travel or transit through Canada for up to six months and can only be requested by those traveling by air.

Applications are automatically approved, in a matter of minutes, mentioned Fraser. The validity of the ETA will be up to five years.

An ETA is electronically linked with the traveler’s passport. Therefore, if the person renews their passport, they will need a new ETA.

However, obtaining this document does not guarantee entry into Canada. “When you arrive, a border services officer will ask to see your passport and other documents. You must convince the officer that you are eligible to enter Canada. Department of Immigration website.

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with this mechanism without visa Canada wants to facilitate the arrival of visitors and increase tourism.

Fraser said the visa waiver was applied in 2017 for Brazil with “good results”. Since then, the flow of Brazilian tourists to Canada has increased and the number of direct flights between the two countries has increased.

This change will give Canadian immigration officers more time to review the visa processes that will be maintained.

How to register?

The application of the ETA is carried out only in the Official site of the Canadian government.

It’s a process on line What This will take only few minutes and the confirmation is given via E-mail also in minutes. However, some requests may take several days if you are asked to provide supporting documents.

you can only make one payment and one request per person at a time. For example, for a family of three, you will need to complete and submit the application three times.

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The receipt must be printed immediatelysince it will not be possible to print it later or receive a copy.

To complete the form you need: a valid passport, a valid email address and a method of payment to waive the $7 fee, which can be a Visa, MasterCard or American Express card (which can also be prepaid), a Union Pay transaction or a card JCB.

The site recommends have the ETA before booking the flight to Canada.

You can request the ETA at this link.

Projection

“Canada is a country of newcomers,” said the Minister. the north american country wants to show itself to the world as a welcoming nation for migrant workers amid growing restrictions from its neighbor the United States and European countries.

The Canadian government conference began with the screening of several videos telling stories of Latino and Arab migrants who came to Canada to work and represent this country in sport.

as collected EF in July 2022, Costa Rica is connected to Canada with direct flights to Toronto and Montreal via Air Canada from Juan Santamaría airport.