Earlier this month we reported that the State Department had changed its policy regarding landed immigrants in Can ada seeking entry to the US . Landed immigrants from many countries have not needed a visa to enter the US . Under the new rule, landed immigrants will have to seek visas to enter the US and will not receive special entry concessions as Can adian citizens do.

Citizens of the following Commonwealth countries as well as Ireland were previously exempt from seeking a visa if they possessed landed immigrant status:

 

Antigua & Bar b uda	Grenada	Nami b ia	South Africa
Australia	Guyana	Nauru	Sri Lanka
Bahamas	India	New Zealand	Swaziland
Bangladesh	Ireland	Nigeria	Tanzania
Bar b ados	Jamaica	P ak istan	Tonga
Belize	Kenya	Papua New Guinea	Trinidad & To b ago
Botswana	Kiri b ati	Samoa	Tuvalu
Brunei	Lesotho	St. Kitts & Nevis	Uganda
Cameroon	Malawi	St. Lucia	United Kingdom (its colonies, territories, and dependencies)
Cyprus	Malaysia	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	Vanuatu
Dominica	Maldives	Seychelles	Zam b ia
Fiji	Malta	Sierra Leone	Zim b a b we
Gam b ia	Mauritius	Singapore
Ghana	Mozam b ique	Solomon Islands

Countries in b old italics are Visa Waiver countries and nationals of those countries can still seek entry under that prog ram .

The State Department has now re lea sed additional info rm ation on procedures for landed immigrants seeking visas to come to the United States . The new rules will b egin on March 17th and after that date all landed immigrants seeking entry to the US must possess a valid passport and non-immigrant visa. All consulates in Can ada have now b een instructed to accept applications from the affected landed immigrants.

Specific details on applying for visas can b e found at the we b site of the US Em b assy in Ottawa at http://www.usembassycanada.gov/content/content.asp?section=travel&document=landed_newrequirements_021803.