CANADA'S IMMIGRATION CATCH-22

Why it can be a labyrinthine bureaucratic process

Imagine you have applied for permanent resident status in Canada under Ontario's immigration program. While your application is being considered, you must maintain legal residence in Canada.

At the time you applied, the turnaround time for a decision was 90 days, but the local bureaucracy does not honour its timetable. In fact, Ontario Immigration's website now says that processing is taking "longer than usual due to the large number of applications in our inventory."

You are here on a student visa. You have made your application in good faith well before your visa is due to expire.

However, while Ontario takes its time, your visa's expiry date is getting closer. As a law-abiding individual, you want to make sure you maintain legal status.

So you spend good money to get a good lawyer who applies to Canadian immigration for a visitor's visa. Your application clearly and explicitly discloses the reasons for your application - that you need to be here while Ontario is processing your application for permanent residence. That is to say, you wish to make Canada your permanent home, but if you leave now, your Ontario application will become null and void. A decision is due any time soon.

Lo and behold, you are informed by Ottawa that your visa application has been refused. Why? Because the bureaucrats are not satisfied that you will not try to remain in Canada after your visitor's visa has expired!

Say what? You just told them that this is exactly what you are trying to do - lawfully.

And who are you, anyway? You are an international student who has successfully earned the highest degree a Canadian university has to offer, a PhD. You have been here for several years. Before coming here, you did your undergraduate degree in one of the best universities in the UK.

You have your own money and have never been a "burden" on Canada. You enjoy an amazing reputation as a teacher. You are highly respected for your research and publications.

Dozens of people have written enthusiastically in support of your desire to be a Canadian. You have received job offers, provided you are eligible to work here.

But if you are forced to go back to where you came from, there are no jobs in the universities and colleges in your home country. Thousands of young people with PhDs there are either scraping by in short-term contract jobs with little future prospects or looking for ways to get out.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, you are a gay person, and your PhD is on queer issues. In the country you hail from, the Supreme Court has decided that homosexuality is a criminal offence. The ruling political party believes that homosexuality violates the society's culture.

You want to avoid that bleak prospect. Indeed, it is the reason you left. 

You are the kind of new immigrant that Canada says it wants and needs: young, healthy, highly educated, bright, full of drive. Further, Canada takes pride in boasting about its deep commitment to upholding, protecting and promoting human rights.

You're left sandwiched between federal and provincial bureaucracies. You, your lawyer and your friends run from pillar to post to make these points to politicians and government officials. But all your pleas fall on deaf ears.

Alok Mukherjee is a distinguished visiting professor at Ryerson University. He served as chair of the Toronto Police Services Board from 2005 to 2015.

Source--https://nowtoronto.com/news/canada-s-immigration-catch-22/