https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/588064/immigration-des-milliers-de-dossiers-de-residence-permanente-dans-les-limbes
English Translation:
Thousands of permanent residence files in limbo
Already stressed by endlessly lengthening processing times, thousands of immigrants who have been waiting for permanent residence for sometimes more than a year are worried about not having received any acknowledgment of receipt of documents. federal authorities. Denouncing a "lack of transparency", these workers living in Quebec now fear that their file will be lost or languish somewhere in their envelope at the processing center located in Nova Scotia.
"We would just like to have confirmation that our file has been received and that there are no missing elements," explains Valentine Clary, who has lived in Montreal for seven years and who has applied for permanent residence with her spouse more than 15 months ago.
Usually taking no more than two or three months to arrive, the acknowledgment of receipt is written proof that a file has been verified and that it contains all the documents and signatures required to be stacked and processed. by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). It is also valuable proof that allows you to apply for RAMQ coverage or to maintain a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) in force, in the event of expiry.
M me Clary was very afraid to go against her to square one. "I am afraid of having my file sent back because something is missing and of having no recourse to continue staying here", explains this native Frenchwoman, who works in the field of
artificial intelligence . “It's not a matter of time. Personally, I wouldn't mind if the treatment would take another four years, as long as I know my file will be reviewed and not returned to me. "
Thousands of lives on hold
With other of her compatriots in the same situation as her, Valentine Clary manages a Facebook group of more than 1,500 people who all claim this acknowledgment of receipt. But they would be much more numerous in reality.
Mainly from French-speaking countries, such as France, these people, who have been in Quebec for several years, work as engineers, architects or in other qualified professions and have all applied for permanent residence through the Skilled Worker Program. selected by Quebec.
For these people, all these unanswered files are so many pending life projects. “What IRCC is asking us at the moment is to put our lives on hold,” laments Amandine Lafitte, a Frenchwoman who arrived in Quebec six years ago with her partner. The couple, who had planned to marry their loved ones in 2021, have now put the project on hold. So is their RAMQ coverage. And impossible to leave the country. "My file was submitted 15 months ago and since then I have no proof that it will be processed," she said, fearing that her file would come back to her with the mention "incomplete" after the expiration of his CSQ.
Élodie Boonefaes also considers her life "blocked" by this radio silence from IRCC. "If, for any step, I am asked to justify that I have applied for permanent residence, I cannot," she said. She fears that her file will come back to her with the mention "incomplete" after the expiry of her CSQ, which would cause her to lose it.
For Louise Mazauric, an architect who has lived in Quebec for seven years, the federal government could show a little more consideration. "I would like at least a confirmation that I am 'in the loop' and that I have not spent all this rotten money", says the young woman of French origin who did not receive an acknowledgment of receipt for his case filed a year ago.
A political reason?
The members of the Facebook group to whom
Le Devoir spoke, however, did not spare their efforts to find out where their case was: emails and repeated calls to IRCC, access to information requests, calls to the offices of ministers of the 'Immigration or their provincial and federal deputies. At best, some immigrants have obtained an "XEP" number, which signifies that IRCC has received their envelope, but this is not a guarantee that the file has been verified.
Why this lack of acknowledgment of receipt for skilled workers selected by Quebec who apply for permanent residence? And how many files are still sleeping in their envelopes? IRCC did not respond to
Le Devoir's questions on time.
The Quebec Association of
Immigration Lawyers (AQAADI) has made its own representations to senior officials of Immigration Canada, but has only succeeded in obtaining the number of applications that are in progress. treatment, or 27,000. A huge number according to David Chalk, an immigration lawyer involved in AQAADI. “Honestly, I was so amazed at this number that I had to ask if they were indeed 'files' and not 'people' [covered by these files]. "
According to him, the provincial government of the
Coalition futur Quebec having reduced its quotas by 20%, the federal government quickly reached the targets in the summer of 2019 and stopped processing new files. “So all the files that arrived after July 2019 remained in their envelopes and were not processed. So people couldn't get an acknowledgment, ”he says. This information could not be corroborated with the two immigration departments, but several members of the Facebook group say they have received similar explanations from their federal deputies.
The fault of COVID-19
Treatment would have resumed somewhat, but the pandemic would interfere with the process. The Covid-19, however, the broad back, said M e Chalk, who does not believe that excuse now given by IRCC to explain the delays and lack of acknowledgments. Active cases can be counted on the fingers of one hand in Nova Scotia, he recalls.
He urges the federal government to make a commitment not to return the incomplete files that it will eventually open, but asks that it instead grant a deadline to provide the missing documents. This way, people wouldn't lose their place in the line. “People waiting to be acknowledged shouldn't suffer the consequences of slow processing in Nova Scotia,” he says. “Instead of processing permanent residence applications from abroad, priority should be given to those from people who are already in Quebec. "
