TORONTO – Mina Melad Gerges Although his family had to leave Canada for Ukraine after his immigration application was rejected in January. But a month later, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced the Makars to flee to Switzerland.
He now hopes to return to Canada, and his lawyer believes the Makars have “strong arguments” against Canadian immigration officials, but lagging behind in the immigration system remains a significant obstacle.
“I think we will make a positive decision in the end. I am confident in that. We have good facts and I believe that when you have good facts, you usually get a good decision,” immigration lawyer Barbara Joe Caruso told CTV News Channel on Friday.
Although his wife Svetlana first came to Canada in 2016. Although their three children were born in Canada and therefore Canadian citizens, they were deported to Ukraine after their case remained in the country for humanitarian and compassionate reasons. was approved.
After the outbreak of the war, the Makars embarked on a long journey across the Polish border and then to Germany. Eventually, they landed in Switzerland, hosted by a Swiss family.
“(Children) have the right to come to Canada. Unfortunately, their parents are not Canadian citizens and they do not have the right,” Caruso said.
“But they have always complied with Canadian law, and that is definitely in their favor, as well as the fact that they have paid taxes here. There are no problems with crime. They have English skills. They have work to do, ”she continued.
While Caruso hopes Macari will get his case approved this month, she says there are nearly 100,000 cases pending before them.
“I am just a little worried when it takes time. We are six weeks after we submitted their application, and although there is a layer of complexity that other applications may not have, the delay is still a bit unreasonable in my opinion, “she said.
Adding to the backlog is the Canada-Ukraine Emergency Travel Permit, which provides an “unlimited” number of visas for temporary work and training for Ukrainians for up to three years. Caruso and other immigration lawyers are calling for measures that would speed up processing, such as issuing e-visas to Ukrainians instead of physical coupon visas.
“In the 25 years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never seen such a backlog. “This is unprecedented and the moment could not be worse for this crisis to happen when the government already had 1.8 million applications,” Caruso said.
Meanwhile, although his family is trying to adjust to his new life in Switzerland and learn German and French.
“I just hope to close my eyes and come back and it’s over and all the pain is gone,” Makar told CTV News Channel on Friday. – We have suffered so much.
With files from Michael Lee.
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