It was the last call for Ukrainians: those who obtained emergency visas following the outbreak of war in early 2022 had until March 31 to land on Canadian soil. Although there were many more than usual flocking to the country’s gates, barely a quarter of the million Ukrainians who obtained this precious sesame ultimately came to Canada, noted The duty.
“It’s actually not a lot,” said Randall Baran-Chong, CEO and founder of Pathfinders for Ukraine.
As of February 27, of the 960,000 Ukrainians who had obtained the Canada-Ukraine Emergency Travel Authorization (AVUCU) issued by Ottawa, only 248,000 were on Canadian soil. According to Mr Baran-Chong, such a “conversion rate” of 25% is very low compared to those in the UK and even the US. “We saw in the data that roughly 75% of people who obtained a visa for the United Kingdom went and […] it’s about 70% in the United States,” continued the man of Ukrainian origins, who went to Poland from the first days of the war to help his compatriots in their immigration efforts to Canada.
The reason ? Support and installation programs have been more generous in these countries — and in Europe in general — than in Canada. “In the UK it was a sponsorship program. People were housed directly by a family, which had been vetted by the government, so that they would not be put in danger. But in Canada, you were sent temporarily to a hotel for a few weeks with the hope that you would find accommodation or a family who would help you,” he explains. “People were pretty much left to their own devices. »
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), many Ukrainians whose visa applications were approved under the AVUCU have chosen “to remain close to their places of residence and their families in the countries neighbors, in the hope of returning to Ukraine.
It is no longer possible to apply for the AVUCU since July 15 and Ukrainians wishing to come to Canada must now apply for a visitor visa.
40,000 arrivals in three months
According to Pathfinders for Ukraine, there have definitely been a lot more Ukrainians on emergency visas flocking to the gates lately. According to the organization’s observations, made using IRCC data, more than 40,000 Ukrainians arrived during the three months of December, January and February. This is approximately two to three times more than the monthly average for summer 2023. IRCC was not able to provide the Duty the number of arrivals for the month of March, which has just ended.
“Our prediction is that by March 31, there will be 300,000 Ukrainians [au total] to have come thanks to this program,” said Mr. Baran-Chong.
The recent rush reflects that which occurred last year at the same period, when the deadline was set for March 31, 2023 before being pushed back by a year. The number of Ukrainians arriving in the country was then 2 to 4 times higher than usual in the two months preceding, January and February 2023. For the month of March 2023 alone, 30,000 Ukrainians had landed in Canada, according to Pathfinders for Ukraine.
In recent months, immigrant aid organizations have rushed to airports to greet Ukrainians arriving in droves and help them find temporary accommodation. “As early as January, they already announced on Facebook that there was too much pressure on the housing supply and that they would give priority to families with children and the elderly,” relates Mr. Baran-Chong. “It was the same thing in March 2023, during the first deadline. If you arrived alone, they couldn’t find you a hotel room. You had to manage. »
All Ukrainians who are in Canada on a temporary visa (work, study, visit) continue to be eligible for federally funded settlement services, including language classes, until March 31, 2025, a specified IRCC.
Going to Canada, a good idea?
The director of Pathfinders for Ukraine invites Ukrainians to plan their visit carefully and to choose the city in which they wish to settle. “There is not work everywhere. For example, Toronto, right now, it’s not a good idea,” he says. On the other hand, in Quebec, the organizations offer good services and the cost of living is lower, he notes.
Randall Baran-Chong also recalls that the Ukrainians who took the steps and who finally landed here did not come on a whim. “These are often people who have lost everything. There are some who had already been impacted by the invasion in 2014 and who had been displaced 4, 5 or 6 times. They had enough and came to stay,” he says.
“Our surveys say it: they are not here to wait, they are here to work and have a better life. »