Another French doctor, established in Montérégie, denounces the slowness of Immigration Canada. If his work permit is not renewed soon, he will no longer be able to practice at Hôtel-Dieu-de-Sorel.
Since March, the Dr Sébastien Pfefer is trying to obtain permanent residence in Canada. Twice his application was deemed incomplete and was refused. At the same time, the doctor wants to renew his work permit to continue working in the emergency room of the Sorel-Tracy hospital, as he has been doing for 10 years. His file was also submitted in March 2023.
His permit expired on July 12, but he can continue to work provided he does not leave the country. The general practitioner therefore canceled his summer vacation. But in the coming days, he will have to go to his sick mother’s bedside in France. When he returns, he will no longer be able to work.
“It’s malfunctioning!” », laments the doctor about the slowness of the system and the impossibility of speaking to a human at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). “The delays are very long and there are no contacts. We find ourselves in a fairly violent system which generates a lot of stress,” says the man who is applying for permanent residence after 10 years in Quebec, because his family situation has changed.
The chance to have a lawyer
The doctor does not feel sorry for himself, far from it. To help him complete his third application for permanent residence, he hired an immigration lawyer a few weeks ago. The irony is that the latter managed to communicate with an official to understand what was missing from the D’s file.r Pfefer.
“I consider myself privileged,” underlines the general practitioner. I was able to hire a lawyer, I don’t come from a country at war, I have a diploma. If [l’immigration] does not work, I will be able to return to France to work. »
“But I find it worrying! Worrying for people who do not have the means to hire a lawyer,” laments the doctor.
At IRCC, there are no contact persons. Everything is done on the Internet. When a document or information is missing, the file is returned, closed or refused. We do not have the possibility of making up for the missing elements. It’s very difficult.
The Dr Sébastien Pfefer
The doctor’s cry from the heart is reminiscent of that of the couple of French doctors who had to stop practicing in Rivière-Rouge, in the Laurentians, last week. This is because general practitioners sent their employment identification number to the IRCC a few days after the rest of their file. Their applications were deemed incomplete and their work permits were not renewed.
Monday, following an article from The Press recounting their story, IRCC ultimately approved their permits.
“A discriminatory system”
Me Benjamin Brulot, an immigration lawyer, could talk for hours about the problems at IRCC, he says.
“But I would say that the impossibility of speaking to a human is the source of a lot of problems and it generates a lot of anxiety,” says the man who prepares at least a hundred immigration applications per year.
“Uncertainty generates stress,” explains the lawyer. “If I tell you that your request will be processed within a week, you will be able to handle the stress of not speaking to a human [d’IRCC]. But with the delays of a year and a half, two years, the files which end up being lost, that’s where it becomes very distressing. »
No one wants to be told to go back to square one after two years.
Me Benjamin Brulot, lawyer specializing in immigration
When the lawyer is asked if immigration applicants are more likely to be accepted if they have the money to pay for a lawyer, he answers without hesitation. ” Absolutely ! It has become a system that discriminates against money,” he laments.
IRCC ensures that “agents from the Client Support Center are able to answer questions regarding client files”. The federal agency, however, did not explain the reasons for such long delays, contenting itself with saying that agents are managing to process more files than in 2022.
“This year, as of August 31, Canada had already welcomed 339,000 permanent residents, which represents an increase compared to the 310,000 it welcomed during the same period in 2022. We are therefore on track to achieve our goal of welcoming 465,000 new permanent residents by the end of the year,” explained Mary Rose Sabater, communications advisor at IRCC.