Foreign minister: Barroso to talk visas with Canada at G8 summit

The head of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso will discuss Canada’s intention to reinstate visas for Czechs at the G8 summit in Italy, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout told a Czech radio station on Wednesday. Canada is considering the move due to an increase number of Czech citizens who apply for asylum in that country.

In 2008 and the first four months of 2009, Canada granted asylum to 132 Czech nationals, the ČTK news agency reported on Wednesday citing sources from the Canadian embassy in Prague. Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board dealt with 334 applications of Czech citizens over that period of time, which was only a fraction of the overall number of asylum seekers - nearly 3,000 applicants, mostly members of the Czech Republic’s Romany community.