On the website of the Polish Embassy of Canada we can read that ”relations between Canada and Poland are really satisfying. They are characterized by lively contacts on the highest level, expansion of trade and economic relations, successful military cooperation and constantly broadening range of ties between our citizens”. That’s the honest truth! Canada is open to Poles. According to statistics, in 2013 Canada is going to release residence visas for between 240 000 and 265 000 people, which is more or less the amount of visas they’ve released during the past five years!
An important factor was the meeting of the Minister for Immigration, Jason Kenney, and the Polish community in Great Britain and Ireland in October 2012. The Minister informed that Canada need workers in the construction sector, in services and in transport. It is important to know English and/or French, because the main reason of unemployment among immigrants in Canada is a lack of communication, hence government languages play a crucial role. Of course, the Embassy of Canada provides information about immigration programs for Poles. There are available immigration programs for special groups, such as skilled workers and professionals, persons nominated by the province, business immigration and Canadian Experience Class (more information can be found on the website of Embassy of Canada in Warsaw)
Worth noting is that you can apply for citizenship after only 3 years in Canada!
Poles are currently discharged from the visa requirement, thus they don’t need to have a visa to visit Canada for tourism. You need to have a valid passport (machine-readable passport³) and optional other documents, which can prove your return to Poland (these documents must be translated into English). The length of the authorised stay in Canada is set by the immigration officer at the Canadian border (at the airport or land border crossing). If the officer won’t include the dates regarding your stay in Canada, it would be a contractual period, or to be more specific, 6 months. Of course, you can apply for an extension of this stay.
More information can be found on the following websites:
– home page of Embassy of Canada
– citizenship and immigration to Canada
– work in Canada, link from youtube
Photo © Margo Hashem