Visa remains to be a major hurdle to Canada

A majority of Indians and Chinese faced problems in getting visa for Canada and it was a big hurdle in growth of trade with that country, a Canadian Member of Parliament said.

A majority of Indians and Chinese faced problems in getting visa for Canada and it was a big hurdle in growth of trade with that country, a Canadian Member of Parliament said in Kolkata on Monday.

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"Getting visa for tourists and businessmen in India and China is a huge problem," Canadian MP Jim Karygiannis said here today at an interactive session with CII members.

Both the countries were huge markets, he said, and the Canadian immigration department should be more liberal in issuing visa.

In Canada, the south Asian population stood at 1.2 million. There were eight lakh Indians of which five lakh were from Punjab.

Karygiannis said though both India and China were important trade partners, India should be looked at as a long term return market.

He favoured the Canadian government lobbying for India and China for entry to G-8.