A father of Belgian origin is trying to sponsor his child who has been living in Quebec for three years. While he easily obtained permanent residence for his eldest daughter in 2021, Jonathan Desclin has just suffered a refusal for his other teenager because of a form signed in 2013.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in fact accuses him of having renounced, in his application for permanent residence, more than 10 years ago, any sponsorship of his children. The error was therefore not in refusing her teenager, but in having accepted the request of her other daughter, this ministry finally reported to the Duty Tuesday.
Mr. Desclin arrived in Quebec from Belgium in 2014, with his permanent residence obtained in a few months as a skilled worker.
At the time, he did declare his two young toddlers as dependents, but who would not accompany him.
However, even non-accompanying family members must undergo a medical examination and a criminal background check, as indicated today by IRCC. The father indicates that his children underwent this medical examination, and that a supporting letter was provided in their respective files. The authorized medical clinic would also have sent the results in 2013 directly to the ministry concerned.
Becoming a Canadian citizen in 2019, he obtained permanent residency for his first daughter the same year. “In less than a year, we had all the papers. I am lost as to what could have changed since the files are identical,” he is surprised.
In 2021, his other child also chooses to join his father Jonathan in Montreal. “He told me dad, I want to go live with you. He’s been living here for three years and now we get a refusal. What are we supposed to do? » he said.
Why now bring up this “obscure part of a regulation” to refuse his teenager, he asks, incredulously, when his first daughter was accepted? “It’s completely stupid,” he exclaims on the line.
Contacted for comment on the file, IRCC indicated instead that it had “made an error in approving the application of Mr. Desclin’s other daughter”.
“Like a stranger”
Now 17 years old, her child refused by IRCC is in gender transition and asks to be called Jake. Having been on Quebec soil for three years as a temporary immigrant, Jake was able to enroll in high school, which he finishes in a few weeks. But to enroll in CEGEP, the family would have to have the means to pay the fees for foreign students, which are between $7,000 and $10,000 per session, depending on the program of study.
Without health insurance, his child “lives like a stranger here,” his father says. “It’s starting to get very complicated,” especially since the remaining options are very slim. He must contest in court, which he intends to do, or even request permanent residence for humanitarian considerations. The latter case, however, is an exceptional or “last resort” procedure, often used by people without status or who have been refused asylum.
“He has already arrived and he is socially integrated,” he pleads, trying to bring together his family torn apart by migration statuses.
“I understand his frustration, especially if he’s already had success with a child,” notes licensed immigration consultant Timothy Morson. Made aware of the details of the file, but without being its legal representative, he immediately recognizes “that there must have been an error somewhere”, whether by IRCC or by Mr. Desclin.
The fact that two almost identical files receive different decisions in all cases shows “inconsistencies in the application of the law”, he underlines.
Having worked for several years as an immigration agent himself, he affirms that it is not uncommon for a “future sponsor not to declare a child so as not to slow down his own immigration process”, sometimes based on bad information or a misunderstanding of the immigration system.
Communication problems?
Jonathan Desclin, however, assures that this is not his case. His children born in Belgium “always appeared” in his initial request.
“I had first signed the paper stating that I did not want to do the medical examinations since my children were not coming with me,” he explains. After a discussion with an immigration officer, however, he decided to go ahead with the required exams, so as not to block their future possibilities.
In 2021, when the father begins to prepare the file for his second child, he requests a letter from the mother to certify that she has completed the required medical examination. “This letter was included in the application for permanent residence,” he reiterates.
But the outcome will not be known until 2023, after two back and forths with the federal ministry which deemed the file incomplete. The ax falls in a letter dated November: “You do not meet the requirements for immigration to Canada,” it is written.
In bold letters, an anonymous immigration official then writes: “Your sponsor failed to declare you and/or have you checked for immigration purposes, as part of their application for permanent residence. »
In an email to DutyIRCC invites Mr. Desclin to call the service line.
“When I spoke to an agent on the phone, he told me that the only way to bring a child is through family reunion sponsorship,” retorts Mr. Desclin. If his proof of medical examination from 2013 is not accepted, his only option is refused. “It’s the dog biting its tail. I’m a little lost,” he whispers.
Sadly ironic, the refusal letter mentions that there are currently exceptions granted for refugees or those who have become permanent residents through family reunification. But again here, the father and the teenager do not fit into the right box. “Without the humanitarian intervention of the minister, I will not be able to do anything,” he concludes, discouraged.