Police Certificate For Canadian Visa

June 22nd, 2008

When you apply for the Canadian Permanent Resident visa, you have to attach a police certificate to your application.

You must attach:

Police certificates of good conduct (Original document) from each country, state or territory in which you and everyone included in the application (18 years of age or over) have lived for six months or longer (since reaching 18 years of age)

You should submit your original fingerprints to the authorities conducting the police checks or clearances

If the authority in the country where you obtained your certificate will forward the result directly to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, you should attach a note explaining the situation

Please note that:

A Police Certificate is required from ALL countries where the applicant and his/her family have resided in for 6 months or more since reaching age 18, along with the country where the applicant currently lives
This certificate should be issued by a national or federal police agency if possible. If you do not currently reside in that country, you may need to apply at the local Embassy or High Commission in your country of residence.

A Police Certificate (also called certificate of no criminal record), is necessary for every applicant age 18 and older
You should present original Police Certificates and also an original accredited translation if the certificates are not in English or French.

The Police Certificate (s) must have been issued in the last six months.

It takes a while to find the authority responsible for issuing the police certificate and to process the document.

However, if you want to contact the Police authority in your country of residence TODAY, I highly recommend downloading Step-by-Step Immigration to Canada, which contains a directory with the contact details of the Police authorities and it also explains step-by-step how to apply for this document.

Alex Berez is a specialist in Canadian Immigration and founder of http://www.stepbystepimmigrationcanada.com

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The Dolomites - Italy’s Limestone Rooftop

June 21st, 2008

If you have never been in the eastern Alpine area of northern Italy called the Dolomites, then now is the time to pull out your trusty Michelin maps of the area and look for Bolzano (Bozen for the German speaking inhabitants). A short distance on the map to the east is Cortina d’Ampezzo; almost due north is Innsbruck. This is where the mountains are called the Dolomites.

This part of Italy was fought over many times and ruled by a variety of entities, empires and republics; Germans, Austrians, Hungarians and eventually the Italians themselves, as it is today. The biggest influence over the last few centuries has been Austria and Germany, with the result that most everyone here speaks German and many wish they were still part of either Austria or Germany. The Tirol is the western part of Austria, but the town itself is across the border in Italy. The signs are usually in Italian and German and when you approach a local, they will begin in German, then switching to Italian.

Be forewarned, it is one of the most expensive regions in Italy. It has excellent activity-oriented tourist offices, lifts, well maintained trails together with a very good bus system that invites tourists from all over. As a result, in most towns doubles in hotels run 100 Euros at a minimum, B&Bs about 70 Euros, with few alternatives. There is a short tourist season - mid July to late September - so they have to make their year’s income in two months.

The best way to tour this area, is by bus, in fact some of areas are only accessible by bus. Start from Venice and get your bus tickets to Cortina, then travel west to Bolzano. That’s the short description. Actually there is a route called the Great Dolomite Road. North of Venice there is a town called Belluno, from there north through tunnels and narrow passes to Cortina, then west through two passes, the Pordoi and Sella passes, then through the Val di Fassa to Bolzano.

You can take the easy and short tour by taking the cable car into the hills above Bolzano to the quintessential tourist town of Oberbozan. But if you have the time, take the bus - up from Venice or east across from Bolzano to Cortina, it’s well worth it.

In season, the Dolomites bask in the sun almost every day. Bolzano looks like Innsbruck but with much more sun. It’s not a big city, only 100,000 or so but certainly has all the amenities you would expect of a much larger city. It has a great open-air market on the Piazza Erbe and has an excellent tourist information centre to get up to speed on this entire area of Italy. Ask them about the 5,000-year-old Ice Man found frozen with his gear a few years ago.

The two most famous Dolomite ski areas are Val di Fassa and Val Gardenna. Between these two valleys, there is Europe’s highest and largest alpine meadow, the Alpe di Siusi. The meadow is five by 12 kilometers and is 2000 meters above sea level. It has a few scattered farm huts, loads of alpine wildflowers and is virtually car-free. There is a vary good view of Mount Schlern, a mountain that made middle age peasants think the entire meadow was bewitched and left it vacant for centuries. If you let your imagination run a little wild, Mount Schlern from the meadow top does look like a bat with its wings spread out or a witch with her cape spread wide over her shoulders. If your own broomstick isn’t up to flying to the top, there are buses to access the meadow and a couple of chair lifts.

A good base of operations for the area between Bolzano and Cortina is the town of Castelrotto, Kastleruth if your Michelin maps are German in origin. With a population of about 5,000, it has some very nice reasonably priced little hotels and the people here are the friendliest in the Dolomites. Castelrotto has more of that special Italian village charm than anywhere else in this region. It also has very good bus connections in every direction in case you must leave.

During its short summer tourist season, the Dolomites can be crowded and expensive, but it’s a part of Italy that you should not miss if you have the time and can afford it.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Travel

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Israel Visa Requirements

June 19th, 2008

Israel has two kinds of visas:

1. Immigration (aliya) visas

2. Visitor (travel) visas

Immigration visas are handled by the Jewish agency, who will recommend the local mission (embassy) to issue an immigrants visa. The local embassy will act according to the Jewish agency’s recommendation.

Visitor visas
Israel has agreements for the abolition of visa requirements with 65 countries. Citizens of those countries may enter Israel with only a valid passport (no need for specific visa). For the full list of countries which do not reqiure Israeli visa, see bottom of this page.

Nationals of countries without such agreements who wish to visit Israel must submit to the nearest Israeli mission a completed visa application form as well as photograph and his/hers travel document. Information about the need for a visa can be found at your local Israeli mission.
(Information source: Israel Ministry of foreign affairs website)

Countries that have visa abolition agreements are:
Africa: Central African Republic, Losoto, Malawi, Mauritius, South Africa, Swaziland
Asia & Oceania: Australia, Fiji Islands, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea

Europe: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany (date of birth after 1.1.28), Gibraltar,Great Britain (England, the UK), Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, The Netherlands (Holland), Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

The Americas: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, St. Kitts & Nevis, Surinam, Trinidad & Tobago, The Bahamas, The Dominican Republic, Uruguay, U.S.A.

Michal Moreno is the content editor for Israel Travel Tips- a travel guide all written by a native Israeli from the insider’s point of view.
For more travel tips, links to important resources, and other Israel travel guides visit: http://www.israel-travel-tips.com

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