The next time you have to wait six months to receive your renewed driver’s license in the mail and complain about how slow the government can be, remember this case.
Many people who apply to Citizenship and Immigration Canada to come to Canada are people who are in great health, and will spend a long time contributing to Canada before they require health care. That’s the case with 92-year-old Khadijeh, or “Essie” as everyone calls her.
She came to Canada in 1994, or almost 20 years ago. When she arrived, she applied for immigration with Citizenship and Immigration having a daughter who lives here. She helped her daughter raise her own daughter, who has severe autism.
But her immigration status hasn’t budged since 1994. In fact, when her daughter calls Citizenship and Immigration Canada to finally get answers, she receives a recording that says, “Your application was received on February 1, 1994. We are currently assessing your application. We anticipate to be able to provide you a response by October 17, 2001.”
Woman caught in immigration limbo in dire need of healthcare
Because of her lack of progress through the immigration system, Essie has no status and cannot be taken to the hospital or to a nursing home because it will then be discovered she has no status and things may become worse.
She recently experienced a bad head injury and now is suffering from severe dementia. The daughter has been calling her local representatives and Citizenship and Immigration Canada for years, only to get the same message.
While this must be a mistake, applications are known to take many years to process, particularly for parents and grandparents who are being sponsored to Canada – but eight to 10 years is about the longest you’ll hear of.
The daughter has started a petition for her mother in order to try and get someone’s attention. You can check it out here, and there is a Facebook page dedicated to the cause here.
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.
