Permanent Residents in Canada are allowed to travel freely throughout Canada at will, but what if they want to go to the United States?
Depending on which country you hold citizenship, traveling from Canada to the United States can be relatively easy. Permanent Residency in Canada does not necessarily make you from Canada in the eyes of the United States border service.
Canadian citizens can more or less travel across the border into America freely, Canada and America having enjoyed many decades of amicable relations.
However, Permanent Residents of Canada are not citizens of Canada, but of the country from which they originate and if they want to enter the United States that is the country that the State Department will consider.
The United States State Department is the organization concerned with foreign relations and the issuance of visas, its Canadian equivalent is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Depending on what country’s citizenship you may have and the nature of the visa for which you are applying the procedure may vary slightly.
Permanent Residents who want to visit the US might be able to do so without a visa if they are from one of the below countries:
| Andorra | Australia |
| Austria | Belgium |
| Brunei | Czech Republic |
| Denmark | Estonia |
| Finland | France |
| Germany | Greece |
| Hungary | Iceland |
| Ireland | Italy |
| Japan | Latvia |
| Liechtenstein | Lithuania |
| Luxembourg | Malta |
| Monaco | The Netherlands |
| New Zealand | Norway |
| Portugal | San Marino |
| Singapore | Slovakia |
| Slovenia | South Korea |
| Spain | Sweden |
| Switzerland | Taiwan |
| The United Kingdom | The United Kingdom |
Otherwise, Immigrants who hold Permanent Resident Cards in Canada will have to apply for a visitor visa. Visitor visas are called B-1 visas in Canada if they are for tourism or B-2 visas if the trip is for work reasons.
There are many other different visa classes for coming into the United States and it certainly is not limited to tourism or business, but it may take some time to research the right visa for you.
Related Artilces:
Travel and Permanent Resident Cards
NEXUS – US Canada Border Crossing Pass
Permanent Residency and Travel
Updated on 9th May 2018.
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