The Abdeali family had made all the arrangements to come to Canada this year, as they finally received their approval for permanent residency during the pandemic. However, their travel documents expired before they were allowed to come to Canada. Now, they are among many approved permanent residents who have given up everything to come to Canada only to be told to wait for an indefinite amount of time.
Zainab Abdeali, a school teacher, gave her notice that she would not be returning for the next school year, as she and her family had been approved to come to Canada. Her husband dissolved his business. The couple sold their possessions and pulled their two children out of school.
Due to the travel restrictions, they could not travel to Canada to complete the final step in the immigration process. Between March 18, 2020 and June 21, 2021, approved permanent residents were not allowed to come to Canada. The only exceptions were for U.S. residents coming from south of the border and approved permanent residents who fell under another exemption.
The Abdeali family live in India, and they did not fall under another exemption. Now, they are among many Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) holders who are running into the same problems that pre-March-18 COPR holders had amid travel restrictions. Their documents expired while the border was closed to them, and the government does not allow for approved permanent residents to complete the landing process with invalid COPRs. As a result, future Canadian immigrants cannot take the last step to permanent residency, even though they have passed every other step in the process.
For the Abdeali’s their immigration process began in 2018.
“We’ve gone through everything. All ground checks. All the eligibility requirements. The medical is passed. We’re already approved. And again we are waiting for the immigration asking us if we want to move,” Zainab said.
“Each client’s situation is unique and needs to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to ensure that they have valid visas for travel. In order to minimize the chance that they will encounter issues when they seek admission as permanent residents at the border, a broad extension for expired COPRs is not feasible,” IRCC media relations said.
They also stopped issuing COPRs for 90 days starting in March 2021, in an effort to curb the number of people whose documents would expire before travel restrictions were lifted. IRCC did not say how many post-March-18 COPR holders there are, as they are still calculating and verifying the data.
The official instructions for post-Mar-18 with expired documents say to wait for IRCC to contact them, and requests that they not contact IRCC. Instead, IRCC will send an email asking expired COPR holders if they still want to travel, then give them 10 days to respond. Eventually, IRCC will ask them for medicals and passports, if required. Individuals will have to respond to the requests, then IRCC will issue their renewed documents.
But the don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you approach has left many in immigration limbo. With the expectation that they would be immigrating to Canada, many quit their jobs, pulled their kids out of school, and sold their possessions.
Akshya Shivkumar and her husband both quit their jobs in anticipation of immigrating to Canada. Their COPR expired shortly before travel restrictions on lifted in June. Since then, Shivkumar says she has been checking her email every day searching for answers, as her and her husband’s settlement funds slowly dwindle.
“We are all stuck in this waiting game, all for an ‘email’ of instructions that would take weeks? Months? Years?” Shivkumar said, “We are desperate for concrete information on processing timelines so we can get out of this limbo and mental distress.”
Many expired COPR holders, report feeling mentally distressed while waiting for their documents to be approved. The lack of available information means they cannot make plans for their future in their home country, nor in Canada.
“My kids are asking again and again when are they able to travel to Canada,” said Avtar Singh, another approved permanent resident. “The mental stress is way too much to handle. I’m losing weight.”
Singh gave up a senior position at his company in February 2020 in anticipation that he would arrive before his COPR expired two months later. Amid the height of the pandemic, and severe restrictions in India, there was no way for Singh, his wife and kids to come to Canada in time.
There is no fixed timeline for how long expired COPR holders will have to wait for IRCC to reissue their documents. IRCC suggested it would be “months” in an email to CIC News:
Individuals with expired COPRs issued after March 18, 2020, can expect to receive instructions from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in the coming months about what they need to do if they would like to have their COPR reissued. Family class applicants will be prioritized, after which clients will be contacted based on the date they applied for permanent residence.
For pre-March-18 COPR holders, it took 10 months to contact roughly 10,000 individuals. IRCC started issuing renewals in September 2020, officials said in a government committee meeting. As of July 11, 2021, all pre-March-18 COPR holders who were eligible for an extension have been contacted, according to an IRCC spokesperson.
Without a firm timeline, and no answers, many approved permanent residents have attempted to contact IRCC and other officials anyway, including Zainab.
“I called [the high commissioner of Canada to India] asking them what can be provided to us, wherein I know in a month or two months or what at least I have a timeframe in which I can do something for my children,” Zainab said. “I can [go back to work at] a school again, I can get my children into school again.”
Her 15-year-old son Murtza, also sent a video to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino, asking them to allow him and his family to travel to Canada.
“It’s so unfair to us that we’re abiding by everything and they’re processing other files like work permits,” Murtza told CIC News, referring to work and study permit holders who are allowed to travel to Canada. “On September 7, even tourists are going to be allowed but not us. We’re waiting for three years — we applied in 2018. It is very unfair.”
This is a message to the honourable prime minister of Canada Mr. Justin Trudeau and immigration minister Mr. Marco medicino to acknowledge EXPIRED COPR appli…
OTTAWA – The latest phase of a federal inquiry into foreign interference is set to kick off today with remarks from commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue.
Several weeks of public hearings will focus on the capacity of federal agencies to detect, deter and counter foreign interference.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and key government officials took part in hearings earlier this year as the inquiry explored allegations that Beijing tried to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
Hogue’s interim report, released in early May, said Beijing’s actions did not affect the overall results of the two general elections.
The report said while outcomes in a small number of ridings may have been affected by interference, this cannot be said with certainty.
Trudeau, members of his inner circle and senior security officials are slated to return to the inquiry in coming weeks.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – An Ottawa judge is set to deliver a verdict this morning in the sexual assault trial for former vice-admiral Haydn Edmundson.
Edmundson was the head of the military’s personnel in 2021 when he was accused of raping a woman while they were deployed together back in 1991.
His trial was held in February, but the verdict has been delayed twice, including last month when the judge said his decision wasn’t finalized.
The complainant, Stephanie Viau, testified at trial that she was in the navy’s lowest rank when the alleged assault happened and Edmundson was an officer.
Edmundson pleaded not guilty, and testified that he never had sexual contact with Viau.
He was one of a series of high-ranking military leaders to be accused of sexual misconduct in 2021, which eventually led to an external report that called for sweeping changes to reform the Armed Forces’ culture.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
OTTAWA – Members of Parliament are back in Ottawa today to begin a busy and potentially precarious sitting for the governing Liberals.
The New Democrats broke their political pact with the government, making an early election call more likely.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has already committed to testing Parliament’s confidence in the Liberals at the first opportunity.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has said he will take each confidence vote as it comes, but members of his party have expressed little interest in an election any time soon.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, meanwhile, say they’re focused on their own agenda.
There are several key bills making their way through the legislative process, including the online harms act and the NDP-endorsed pharmacare bill, which is currently in the senate.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
