A woman in Toronto has end-stage kidney disease and her life would be saved by a donor, but the one person who can donate to her has been denied entry to Canada according to this article in the Toronto Star. 
Vilma Serrano, 44, has been on the waiting list for a kidney transplant for three years, and there’s a relative in El Salvador who medical testing says is a viable donor.
He applied for a visitor visa in in October of 2011 and was denied, and applied again in January of this year but was denied again.
According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the man is not eligible for a visitor visa to Canada because “he was unable to satisfy the visa officer that he would leave Canada upon expiration of his visa. We understand the serious nature of this situation, but our visa officers do not make these difficult decisions lightly.”
The reasons for the denial of the visa is that the man hasn’t ever traveled outside of El Salvador, he may not leave because he has a sister living in Canada, the necessary time he would need to be here (four months) was too much time, and his does not seem to have the stable finances or employment back home that would be enough to fund his trip to and stay in Canada.
Apparently, many Toronto residents who are newcomers end up looking to family abroad for organ donations and as a result many of these visa applications are denied, according to the hospital where Vilma is staying.
A petition has been started to help get Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney’s attention as he is the only one who could get the donor into Canada at this point.
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
