New immigrants wait longer than a year for a permanent residency card
How does this affect their lives?
Without a permanent resident card you cannot get free health care or benefits in Canada, even if you are eligible. Also, if a permanent resident may not be allowed back into Canada if they left without an ID card, only with an official letter of status.
The CBC news agency told the stories of people who found themselves in difficult situations where waiting times for permanent residency cards exceeded all reasonable limits, and the Department of Immigration could not do anything to help.
Gloria Mbaga
Gloria Mbaga had been a permanent resident of Canada for 27 years, married to a Canadian and had children with him. The family returned to Canada and settled in Ottawa in October 2020, after 15 years of living in another country. Gloria Mbaga learned that her card and social security number were blocked — the Canadian government suspends numbers not used for more than five years to protect their owners from identity theft and other abuses.
The woman applied for an extension of the card because she could not recover her social security number without it: you can only get this number from documents confirming permanent resident status in the first year after you receive your permanent residence permit. Even if the officials accepted the status documents received in 1995, she lost them.
The Department of Immigration did not mail the card as it should have, and Gloria Mbaga, the family's sole breadwinner, had to spend all her savings during the pandemic. The woman was not entitled to public assistance under COVID-19, nor to benefits or compensation for the forced downtime of the secondhand clothing store where she works. Her family was forced to move from a rented townhouse to an apartment.
The full article is only available to members of the Immigrant.Today community. Log in to your account to read it for free.
