(Ottawa) Ottawa has processed the visa applications of 144 people stuck in the Gaza Strip, putting them on track to reunite with extended family members in Canada – provided they can cross the border for screening biometric and final approval.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has created a program to offer temporary visas to a thousand people stuck in the besieged Palestinian territory, on the condition that relatives can then support them in Canada.
But Immigration Minister Marc Miller warned that the federal government cannot guarantee that these people will be able to cross the border from Gaza at Rafah, a crossing that is tightly controlled by Israel and Egypt.
The 144 people who had completed most of the application process on Tuesday will still have to undergo more in-depth screening in Egypt, including biometrics, before being granted a Canadian visa.
The Immigration Department began accepting applications on January 9, but has not yet said how many it has received so far. It is noted that the time required to process a request varies from one person to another depending on the information provided.