Does a US non immigrant workes (H1B visa holder) need a visa to go to Canada?

I m not a US citizen, I've been living and working in the US for the last 10 years. I have a H1B visa.
Canada requires a Visa for visitors from a series of countries, and my country of citizenship is among those. However, I was told that non-immigrant workers in the US, or international students, (H1B and F1 visa holders) can travel to Canada without a visa. Can anybody confirm?
Thanks

Jeannie Out of the Bottle

What Canada is attempting to do is attract H1B visa holders from the US who has already screened these people for their skills and qualifications.

United States of America permanent residents [Green Card holders] who are in possession of their status document or who can provide other evidence of permanent residence in the USA do not require a visa to visit Canada. H1B visa holders are not permanent residents of the US and if not from a nation in a visa waiver program with Canada will require a visa.

chuckles951

As far as I know, your country of citizenship is the criteria whether you need a visa to visit Canada. That you are a temporary worker in the USA is not relevant to Canadian authorities.

CCC

Jeanne is wrong. You need your nations passport, but leaving the US on an H1B visa now could nullify your visa with the US and your job in the US. New rules went into affect a year or two ago. You need to go through this canadian agency to find out more. www.cic.gc.ca as depending on your nation you could still need a visa as well. It all depends on where you are from. I am an American who immigrated to Canada and I read up on all this. You can call this no the us fed operator to contact immig here to find out the current rules 1 800 fed info, ask for the immg folks and in Canada call 1 800 O Canada, that is the letter O not a zero and you can ask them who you need to talk as well. Canadian Border and Customs can help as well and homeland security all online look for the cnd govt sites by know any govt site for canada is gc.ca and for the US fed gov it is simply .gov good luck.

chuckles has it half right. each country has different rules for different nations.
go to www.canada.gc.ca for all the sites i listed above and for the us govt at www.usa.gov stay informed to stay legal or risk being deported from both nations.

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