After going through an obstacle course, people who have finally obtained their permanent residence are not at the end of their sentence: the official card attesting to their status, which is compulsory for return trips to the country, can take months. to arrive, according to what learned The duty.
Currently, more than 100,000 people are waiting for their first permanent resident card and at least 36,000 are waiting for a renewal, according to data from Immigration Canada.
Originally from Colombia, Lina Fierro was granted protected status for herself and her family following a favorable decision by the Immigration and Refugee Board in 2020. only to complete the last step, which is to provide some information and a photo, to obtain the official card attesting that she is a full-fledged permanent resident. “I filed the documents in February 2021, and in March, I was told that the file was complete. But it’s been 18 months now and I’ve never received it, ”laments the one who was a nurse in her country of origin.
This small rectangle of plastic is nevertheless of paramount importance to her. This is proof that is often required and, above all, it is in particular what allows her to return to the country if she has to travel abroad.
Compromised trips
Not having it in hand has significant consequences, confirms lawyer Gabrielle Thiboutot. One of his clients, a mother from Niger, has been waiting for her permanent residence card for six months. This prevents her from going to visit her three-year-old daughter, whom she was forced to leave there. While waiting for the plastic card, the sheet of paper attesting that a person has been accepted as a permanent resident is not sufficient as proof. “There is a possibility of obtaining authorization to return to the country if, for example, your card has been stolen [de résident permanent]. But here too, the wait is very long,” explains Mr.e Thiboutot, from the Exeo firm.
Le Québec c’est nous aussi, a group that defends the rights and living conditions of immigrants, has noticed a certain slowness in processing. The problem of issuing cards is very real, supports the vice-president of the organization, Claire Launay. “I think there’s been a bit of improvement, but you hear a lot of cases where it’s easily three, four months. »
Yamili, a Mexican who wishes to keep her last name withheld so as not to interfere with her immigration process, says she waited four months for her permanent residence card, before finally obtaining it last July. “I wrote to them [aux autorités] because I thought I had been forgotten, she said. Without the card, you cannot travel. »
Lawyers have also indicated to the To have to that some of their clients had not been able to leave the country on an emergency basis to see relatives or attend funerals because they had not received their card.
Immigration lawyer Stéphanie Valois receives the same echo from her clients: the card takes a long time to arrive. But the problem reported to him is upstream, when permanent residents must provide certain information and a photo for their card. “A lot of clients call me to tell me that they’ve been refused the photo because it’s not compliant. I know that people complain that it is too long, ”said the one who is also president of the Quebec Association of lawyers and lawyers in immigration law.
Towards a reduction in waiting?
Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees Canada (IRCC) does not recognize the delays in processing and says for its part that the deadlines for issuing a permanent residence card are instead 63 days, as posted on its website. The federal ministry explains that the time begins to be calculated when the file is complete and that the expected wait is based on the time it took to process 80% of requests in the past.
“However, if an application is complex, it may take longer than the normal processing time,” said Isabelle Dubois, spokesperson for IRCC.
She adds that IRCC has taken steps to speed up card issuance through an online portal that allows customers to submit their photo and information electronically. Investments of 85 million are also planned for the hiring of staff and therefore the reduction of pending files in several sectors of the Department of Immigration. Permanent residence card renewals take even longer than the production of new cards, at 85 days.
Mme Dubois confirms that a person without a permanent residence card cannot return to Canada if they leave the country. But it is possible, under certain conditions, to apply for a “permanent resident travel document” at the immigration office serving the country where the person is to go. “Even if a person is eligible, we cannot guarantee that we will process their application urgently or that they will receive their permanent residence card in time,” she acknowledged.