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In <2s2mpb$66l@news.bu.edu> simon1@bu.edu (Simon Streltsov) writes:

>I am taking a friend this Sunday to Canada.
>He is a refugee in US and does not have a green card yet
>(and has a refugee travel document).

>Does he need an entrance visa to Canada?
>( I got confusing, i.e. different, answers
>from the embassy)

>Thanks in advance,

>Simon Streltsov
>simon1@bu.edu
>617/783-6352
My reply is based on a friend's experience.  (He is in the process of
making his papers to visit Canada).

1. A refugee generally needs a "Refugee travel document" (it's a passport
   format document that takes up to 8 weeks to receive).

2. He (my friend) went to the local IRS office, told them a story about
   some sort of emergency that required him to go to Canada and they
   gave him a piece of paper called "Advance parole document".  It's
   not clear weither the paper has any time or other restrictions.  The IRS
   people can probably explain whatever they know on the matter (IRS officers
   are known to be ignorant about the very things they are supposed to know
   and pretty often you can get a number of opinions from different officers).

3. He called Canadian Consulate in Detroit and they told him a visa WAS
   REQUIRED for him.  In addition, they refused to deal with him by mail
   and requested that he PERSONALLY SHOWED UP at the consulate.
   That's no big deal if you are planning to cross the border in Detroit 
   anyway.

I'd recommend you to visit your local IRS office (it's usually impossible
to get any intelligible info from them over phone) and call a Canadian
Consulate closest to you to verify the above info.  It might be easier
for your friend to just wait for the Green Card.