Ukrainian ambassador: No progress in visa-free regime with Canada

"Unfortunately, we are at a standstill in the issue of canceling Canada’s visa requirements for Ukrainians. Moreover, we have not made much progress in reducing the number of visa rejections. I do not have final statistics for 2018, but according to the results of the first three quarters, the number of Canada visa rejections to Ukrainians was at the level of 26%," Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada Andriy Shevchenko said in an interview with Ukrinform.

In his opinion, this number is too big and there are no arguments to substantiate it. "The level of relations between the states and the interpersonal relations between the citizens do not allow viewing such a number of rejections as adequate. We continue to work with the Canadian government on this issue," the ambassador emphasized.

In the report published by Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence “Canada’s support to Ukraine in crisis and armed conflict” in December 2017, the MPs called on the Government to grant Ukrainians visa-free access to Canada. However, the response indicated that “the Government of Canada continues to carefully monitor conditions in Ukraine, but has no plans to review the visa requirement at this time, as Ukraine does not meet Canada’s criteria for a visa exemption.”

At the same time, Ukraine abolished visas for Canadians back in 2005.