CBI PASSPORT HOLDERS WHO WANT TO USE CANADA'S VISA-FREE ENTRY (eTA) HAD BETTER READ THE FINE PRINT

Citizens from three of the Eastern Caribbean states that have CBI or CIP economic passport sales programs (Antigua & Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia) are eligible for Canada's visa-free program (known as eTA), to avoid the new, extremely complex and demanding requirements necessary to qualify for a visa for Canada. They therefore need not supply evidence of employment, actual bona fide residency and family ties in the country that has issued their passport.

But before all those CBI passport holders from those island states line up to tour the Provinces of Canada, or visit friends and family who live there, please note that visa-free entry requires that one have either:
(1) A current visa to enter the United States, or
(2) Have received a visa to enter Canada during the past ten years.

Thus, in essence, Canada has found a clever way to block Caribbean CBI passport holders, without the bad press associated with an order declaring those identity documents not valid for entry, as very few nationals from Iran, Russia, North Korea and other high-risk nations, who are CBI passport holders, qualify on either.

We note that the Commonwealth of Dominica, who visa-free entry to the UK was ended two years ago, whose passport holders are restricted from entering the US, and who are looking at the imminent loss of EU visa-free privileges, are not even on the Canada visa- free list. Apparently, Canadian authorities have decided that the jurisdiction's passport holders pose a threat to national security; a wise move, on the part of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, in our humble opinion.