Waiting and worrying: Permanent residency application holdup sees husband in St. John's, family in Philippines

For Ejaz Ahmed, the wait for when he will be reunited with his family is an agonizing one that unfortunately has no end date.

Ahmed lives in St. John's, while his wife and son live in the Philippines. 

The 40-year-old, who is originally from Pakistan, submitted his application for permanent residency in July 2021. 

"I was hoping it [would] be processed within six to eight months, as I had submitted all the required documents upfront," Ahmed said.

"The ongoing delay in processing my application has caused a great deal of emotional pain and uncertainty for my family. We feel anxious and helpless, as we are not sure when we will be reunited, and we have already been separated for such a long time."

Ahmed's application is one of the 90,000 that had been received by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in 2021, under a program called the "temporary resident to permanent resident pathway" or TR-PR for short. For some people, it's actually an accelerated program to provide residency — like workers and international graduates. 

But thousands of other applicants from 2021 who don't fall into the above categories are still waiting for a decision from the IRCC.

Until Ahmed is granted permanent residency, he cannot bring his family to Canada. 

Ahmed's journey

Ahmed met his wife, Hamida Salapudin Kasim, in Saudi Arabia in 2012. He travelled to the Philippines to meet her family and got married there in 2015. 

While their bond is strong, the distance has taken a toll on Kasim.

"Raising kids is emotionally exhausting, and having someone to share that burden with can make all the difference," she said. 

"However, as my husband is abroad, communication is limited due to time zone differences, work schedules and technological limitations. It is hard to stay connected with each other and make important decisions that affect the family's well-being."

They both think of their son, Abdul Wasay Ejaz, during their struggle of being apart. 

"[He] was just one year old when I left. He has grown up without his father, and it has been a constant struggle for my wife to manage everything on her own," Ahmed said.

Ahmed made his way from one coast of Canada to another. He arrived in B.C. in July 2018 to complete his master's degree in the field of teaching English as a second language. He then moved to St. John's in March 2021 on the recommendation of a friend. 

"Its natural beauty, cultural heritage and academic opportunities" made him call it home, he said. Currently, he is working as an ESL instructor at the College of the North Atlantic.

Where his application stands now

There are key dates and steps in the application process. 

Amhed knows them all, and notes his background check from February 2022 is still in process.  

He has reached out to IRCC, calling more than 100 times to inquire about an update. 

He has contacted MPs Seamus O'Regan and Joanne Thompson, but Ahmed said, "They were not able to help me in any way other than providing me the status of my application."

CBC News contacted IRCC with some questions related to this story and permanent residency application processing times. 

In an email, spokesperson Michelle Carbert said the department has made decisions for about 32,000 people in 2021 and 50,400 in 2022, and the remaining 44,000 applications will be processed by the end of 2023.

But there is no estimated processing timeframe for the temporary residency to permanent residency application stream, which Ahmed is part of. 

"As of March 2023, enhanced application status information is available to clients in over eight lines of business; however, clients who applied under the TR to PR program are not among the eight lines of business currently supported."

Compared with the Atlantic Immigration Program the processing time is five months, while the provincial nominee program takes 10 months.

"IRCC is working to reduce application backlogs and build a stronger immigration system. This includes digitizing applications, hiring and training new staff, and harnessing automation technologies to help us increase processing capacity and efficiency while protecting the safety and security of Canadians," Carbert said via email. 

Family reunification remains a top priority for the federal government, the statement added. 

As for Ahmed, he chats with his family a few times a day on WhatsApp or Facebook messenger, and he doesn't have the answer to his son's question about when they will come to live with him in Canada.

"It is affecting our mental health and emotional well-being, and we feel like we are stuck in limbo, waiting for a decision that seems to be taking forever."

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