Canada Imposes a Visa on the Czech Republic & Mexico
#91
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,849
Short of those who legitimately obtain a visa, hold a passport from a non-visa required country, or those who are able to purchase a fraudulent document from an organised crime group and use it successfully, yes.
Last edited by yyzvoyageur; Jul 23, 2009 at 8:23 am
#92
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Stockholm
Programs: Various
Posts: 3,371
What will the Canadian visa procedure look like for Czech citizens? I can't help thinking that the only question will be if the applicant is Roma? If yes, the application is denied and if no the application is approved. Ethnic profiling?
#93
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,849
The procedure is the same as it is for any other foreign national who requires a visa to visit Canada. Ethnic or cultural heritage is not a factor.
#94
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Stockholm
Programs: Various
Posts: 3,371
Of course they will say so but considering the visa imposition comes as a reaction to frequent asylum claims by Roma I'm not entirely convinced.
#95
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Programs: United MileagePlus Silver, Nexus, Global Entry
Posts: 8,798
Unless they're somehow able to travel to South or Central America and then illegally cross borders to get the thousands of miles to the north they won't be physically able to get to Canada.
#96
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Programs: United MileagePlus Silver, Nexus, Global Entry
Posts: 8,798
I expect it will be a non-issue. I assume now that there is a visa requirement the roma gypsies won't even bother applying for one, so there won't be ethnic profiling as they won't even present themselves at the visa counter in the first place.
#97
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Philippines
Programs: CebGo 5J, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Alaska 100K
Posts: 4,696
Maybe the thinking is that you practically always need to get to Canada via air travel - the exception being land crossing from the US, and it would not be expected to have many people from the US come to Canada to claim to be a refugee.
So if you're coming to Canada from anywhere else, and you're doing it by flying (trans-atlantic or trans-pacific), you've obviously got some degree of financial wealth to buy the tickets in the first place, so you don't fit the traditional profile of a refugee (economic or otherwise).
Perhaps Canada has such a generous refugee or asylum laws because, at the time they were created, nobody thought that any legit refugees would even make it here (let alone want to come here, to the land of the great white, mostly cold north).
So if you're coming to Canada from anywhere else, and you're doing it by flying (trans-atlantic or trans-pacific), you've obviously got some degree of financial wealth to buy the tickets in the first place, so you don't fit the traditional profile of a refugee (economic or otherwise).
Perhaps Canada has such a generous refugee or asylum laws because, at the time they were created, nobody thought that any legit refugees would even make it here (let alone want to come here, to the land of the great white, mostly cold north).
#98
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 3
A lot of the refugees coming from Mexico - as many as 80 or 90 per cent, according to a March 2009 article in the Toronto Star - are legitimate refugees escaping the drug-related violence in parts of that country.
The way I see it, where the hell was our government when Colombia had the same problem a few years ago and thousands of Colombian refugees fled to Canada? I sure don't remember them fussing over Colombian refugees, why the problem with Mexicans?
In any case, I've already written my Conservative MP and informed him I'm not voting for the Conservatives in the next election if Canada doesn't reverse this decision, which has made me ashamed to be a Canadian. (I voted Conservative in the past three elections.) When I go to Mexico next year, I sure won't be showing off a Canadian flag on my backpack like I did when I went in May of this year. Canada is a well-respected country there, far more than the United States is. I expect that to change.
Canada is making a huge mistake. Another Toronto Star article at the end of May suggested the problems in Mexico could spread to more parts of the country if the government doesn't get it under control. We are just going to see more and more refugee claimants from that country if that happens, and Mexicans could be at serious risk if Canada makes it too difficult to get into this country.
This is also a huge mistake in terms of NAFTA, and the suffering tourism industry.
The way I see it, where the hell was our government when Colombia had the same problem a few years ago and thousands of Colombian refugees fled to Canada? I sure don't remember them fussing over Colombian refugees, why the problem with Mexicans?
In any case, I've already written my Conservative MP and informed him I'm not voting for the Conservatives in the next election if Canada doesn't reverse this decision, which has made me ashamed to be a Canadian. (I voted Conservative in the past three elections.) When I go to Mexico next year, I sure won't be showing off a Canadian flag on my backpack like I did when I went in May of this year. Canada is a well-respected country there, far more than the United States is. I expect that to change.
Canada is making a huge mistake. Another Toronto Star article at the end of May suggested the problems in Mexico could spread to more parts of the country if the government doesn't get it under control. We are just going to see more and more refugee claimants from that country if that happens, and Mexicans could be at serious risk if Canada makes it too difficult to get into this country.
This is also a huge mistake in terms of NAFTA, and the suffering tourism industry.
#99
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,849
A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.
#100
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Philippines
Programs: CebGo 5J, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Alaska 100K
Posts: 4,696
#101
Join Date: May 2004
Programs: BA blue, LH Senator, KQ (FB) gold
Posts: 8,215
The Czech Republic is part of Schengen. Canadians don't need a visa for Schengen.
This could turn into something quite interesting. What if the rest of Schengen decided to stick up for their Czech neighbours and suddenly all decided to require Canadians to have visas for Schengen? Doesn't bear thinking about... And of course Canada would then retaliate and require everybody from Schengen to have visas...
This could turn into something quite interesting. What if the rest of Schengen decided to stick up for their Czech neighbours and suddenly all decided to require Canadians to have visas for Schengen? Doesn't bear thinking about... And of course Canada would then retaliate and require everybody from Schengen to have visas...
#102
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Stockholm
Programs: Various
Posts: 3,371
However, it's quite possible to argue that the Roma of Eastern Europe are real refugees.
The refusal to accept Roma in Canada makes comparisons between the failed integration of immigrants in Europe and the apparently much more successful integration in Canada invalid IMO.
Maybe this is off topic though.
The refusal to accept Roma in Canada makes comparisons between the failed integration of immigrants in Europe and the apparently much more successful integration in Canada invalid IMO.
Maybe this is off topic though.
#103
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,849
#104
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 739
Those escaping drug-related violence are not refugees. Mexico has a population of some 109 million. Where shall we house them all? Where will the money come from to provide their social benefits? I'm glad the government is finally starting to clamp down on this abuse.