Canada considering reintroduction of visa requirements for Czechs
By Albert Smith | Wed, 07/08/2009 - 23:10
Visa requirements for citizens of Czech are likely to be reintroduced by the Canadian government in order to deal with the large numbers of refugee claimants from the Czech Republic.
Visa requirements for citizens of Czech are likely to be reintroduced by the Canadian government in order to deal with the large numbers of refugee claimants from the Czech Republic.
Caretaker Foreign Minister Jan Kohout confirmed on Wednesday that Canada has informed them regarding the measures they might take in order to deal with the flood of Czech refugee claimants.
The daily Lidove noviny reported on Tuesday that Czech Republic’s Foreign Minister Kohout and Interior Minister Martin Pecina held discussions with Jason Kenney, Immigration Minister of Canada.
The daily stated that Canada is likely to reintroduce the visa requirements by the 7th of July. In response to this, Jan Kohout said that he hasn’t been formally informed of any such announcement by the Canadian government.
Kohout cautioned that visa requirements by Canada would hamper the relations of Canada with the country and also said that even they might consider the reintroduction of visa requirements for diplomats from Canada.
Stefan Fule, Czech Minister for European Affairs, said on the issue that something is not going good somewhere.
In the first quarter of the year 2009, Canada provided asylum status to as many as thirty four Czech citizens. But the recent flood of Czech asylum seekers forced the Canadian government to think of the issue, as more than one thousand asylum seekers from Czech arrived in Canada from January to April. As a result of this movement, immigration shelters of south Ontario are jam packed at the moment.
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