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.
Only when the story became public and Pierre Poalivre, a member of the Canadian House of Commons and former Minister of Social Development, intervened did the Department of Immigration say that Gloria Mbaga's permanent residency card was ready as early as June 2021. But it wasn't until March 2022 that she received a letter from the Department of Immigration — not a card, but a letter inviting her to come in person to collect it.
Paloma Pereira
Paloma Pereira became a permanent resident of Canada in 2021 and settled in Montreal. Since June 2021, she had expected a permanent residency card to arrive at her home address by mail.
After numerous phone calls and written appeals, it turned out that the card had been sent to the wrong address, although the applicant had indicated the correct one. The address where the Ministry of Immigration had sent the card, Paloma Pereira could not be helped — there were no apartments there, it turned out to be a commercial building. The post office responded that without a tracking number they could not say anything about whether anyone had received the letter with Paloma Pereira's permanent resident card.
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She had been out of Canada twice because her family needed help with medical treatment and a funeral. Adding to her stress was the fact that each time she did not know whether she would be allowed back into the country or whether her permanent resident status would be revoked, she had to gather a folder of documents proving her status and residency in Canada and carry them with her.
What the Department of Immigration says
The same problems await people who lose their permanent residency card. It will be very difficult to recover.
In response to a news agency query, the Department of Immigration assured that it continues to work to conduct all necessary background checks and process permanent residency cards more quickly. The department is now processing applications for permanent resident cards submitted in December 2021.
Those who never received their card can request a reissue. To do so, fill out the special form and mail it in if they are waiting more than six weeks from the maximum standard wait time. The maximum standard time is constantly changing and can be specified here. It is currently 94 days.
