Immigration

I have a European friend who has been living in Canada for the last six or seven years attending school, first an undergraduate degree in the Maritimes, then a graduate degree in Vancouver. We only met a couple years ago, but in that time he's has been adamant in his desire to permanently relocate to Canada (he has even already purchased real estate, so he's a Canadian landowner). There are far more opportunities for him in his chosen line of work here in Canada, and he's happy here.

Canadian Immigration has a very different idea, however. After waiting an interminable amount of time following his first application for permanent residence last summer, my friend was denied on the basis that he had apparently not submitted the full application fee. By their books, he was short $25 of the $125 cost. Yet on examining bank his bank records, it was clear that he had sent a cheque for the full amount. No explanation of the missing $25 was forthcoming, but my friend was denied the possibility of reapplication since it was now well past the application deadline.

Luckily, he was able to enter some sort of an appeal process. This involved consulting with an immigration lawyer and sending all the relevant documents to the Canadian Immigration office. A few weeks following his submission, my friend learned that Immigration had again lost part of his application - this time one of the bank statements that he had filed. My friend had to once again send the documents by mail, then wait for their painfully slow reply.

Finally, today, he heard back from Immigration once more. This time they told him to get out of the country. My friend is very unhappy, frustrated and fed up with the one-sided process that has him reacting to everything Canadian Immigration seems to do wrong. But he's not willing to give up. After consulting with his lawyer the determination was made to appeal once more, this time taking the matter to federal court.

The whole thing kind of sickens me. Canada is supposed to be a diverse country that welcomes many people with open arms. My friend has gotten nothing but short shrift from officials at Immigration since this process began. My friend has a tremendous skill set, is excited to be part of Canada, and will help our economy by building business opportunities in the digital media sector. I know of people who have gotten permanent residence status for far less.

On one hand, Canada's reputation on the international stage has been steadily declining in recent years. Our stance on the environment, international diplomacy, and our perceived ties with America have hurt us. On the other hand, I know that Canada has been proactive in encouraging growth in certain sectors through immigration: Research science is a key area that has seen tremendous development through the adoption of the Canada Research Chair program ten years ago. More recently, the Canadian newswire was covered today with the story that Canada is hastening the process of immigration for orphaned Haitian children.

It's clear that Immigration isn't doing everything wrong - but they certainly seem to be having a hard time doing some things right. I really hope that the positives are an indication that there is some sense to Canadian Immigration laws, and that my friend will obtain permanent residency. It would be a shame if this episode were an indication that we are slowly becoming more insular, like our neighbours to the south. Especially since we have all this extra space.