Ukraine and Canada have confirmed plans to move towards a visa-free regime in regard to temporary visits, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, announced.
Ukrainians may be able to travel to Canada without visas
Canada has a large share of people who come from the Ukrainian background. However, getting visas to Canada is rather hard for locals.
This situation may soon improve, Segodnya reported.
An agreement to simplify youth exchanges is in works between the countries and should be signed in the upcoming months, President Zelensky confirmed.
Most importantly, the Canadian side is concerned whether the visitors will return home. However, the Ukrainian government believes they will be able to ensure young visitors will follow the plan.
The announcement came out after the meeting of Zelensky with the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau in Toronto.
If the agreement about student exchange is signed, young Ukrainians will be able to arrive to Canada for a visit up to one year to study or work.
Canada also plans to include Ukraine into the program of Trusted Traveler, which would simplify the requirements to visit.
The Ukrainian president once verbalized plans to reach visa-free travel with Canada in the future. This may sound like something that is impossible, but the same was said about the visa-free regime with the European Union when such plans were first announced. For years locals were sceptical about the chance of this happening in real life. But now these plans actualized.
Just the same may happen in this case as well. Even though there could be issues that need resolving, it is the goodwill of top officials that paves the road previously untravelled. But once it happens, no one is surprised.
It is estimated 1.3 million of people who have a Ukrainian background live in Canada.
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Here in Western Canada there is a very strong Ukrainian presence. Many of the pioneers that settled the Canadian Prairies came from Ukraine, since they found similar conditions for farming out here in the west.
It would be great, if people from Ukraine could come to Canada on a regular tourist visa! Perhaps people from Ukraine should also be included in the Work and Travel program.