End of the line: Potential immigrants who have lost their place in the queue

End of the line: Potential immigrants who have lost their place in the queue tell their stories

By Tobi Cohen, Postmedia NewsJuly 15, 2012 3:01 PM

OTTAWA — About 280,000 would-be immigrants, stuck on a waiting list of people who applied to come to Canada more than four years ago, were told as a result of the recently passed federal budget to start the process from scratch.

The move hasn't garnered the sort of blaring headlines that accompanied the shrinking of public service jobs, alterations to environmental oversight or boosting the age of eligibility for Old Age Security. But like those actions, it is about more than just budget numbers.

The 280,000 had sought to come to Canada under a federal program for skilled workers, and while they may have met the criteria when they first applied, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney believes many of their qualifications are no longer relevant.

So he plans to refund the $130 million they paid in application fees, then send them to the end of the queue.

Bill C-38, the budget bill, aims to help transform Canada's immigration system into one that is faster, more flexible and geared towards young people with strong language skills, Canadian experience and credentials in demand. But behind the changes are real people, with whom Postmedia news has been in touch via email.

Here are some of the would-be Canadians pondering the prospect of starting anew:
- Jian Liu, 34, Beijing, China. Senior commercial manager CMA CGM Logistics.

Single when he first applied to come to Canada five years ago, Liu has since married and now has a daughter who is nearly two. With Canada set to toss his application, any immediate plans to expand his family have been halted under China's one-child policy.

Liu says he came to Canada initially in 2003 as an international student and earned an MBA from Vancouver Island University as well as a diploma in business development from the University of the Fraser Valley. He spent time in Toronto, then returned home for personal reasons. He still has friends in both Vancouver and Toronto.

He passed a language test with high enough scores to support his application for permanent residence and both he and his wife are taking French on weekends, costing $1,500. His wife works as an account manager at a U.S. electronics manufacturer. He's also among 900 applicants who sued the Canadian government for failing to process applications in a timely manner, even before C-38 passed.

OPTIONAL TRIM
He says he passed up a chance to immigrate to Australia or the U.S. a couple of years ago and avoided purchasing a bigger house in Beijing once he had a family, thinking they were leaving. Since then, real estate prices in that city have skyrocketed.

Last words: "We are not refugees, we are not old people . . . We have good education background and can speak English. We have international working experience and know the bridge/connection between Canada and China. As well as, we have money to support our life in Canada. We have children to be new generation of Canada . . . Think about that Jason, the King of Canada."

- Mandy Xue, 45, Guangzhou, China. Hotel event sales manager. She oversaw Prime Minister Stephen Harper's China visit in February:
Xue has been waiting five years to come to Canada. She hopes to reunite with a niece in Edmonton and cousins in Toronto, particularly for the sake of her 20-year-old son, Chu Qi, who she says was very close to his cousins as a boy.

She has worked in the hospitality industry for 15 years, while her husband owns his own logistics company. Her son is a sophomore, enrolled in a $3,000-a-year e-commerce program at Central China Normal University, which has a co-op program with Medicine Hat College in Alberta. She sold one of their apartments for about $65,000 to help pay for the Canadian portion of his education but was hopeful the family would be settled in Canada by the time he was to study here.

She says she has also spent more than $7,000 on English lessons, about $1,500 on an immigration consultant and another $145 on a Canadian lawyer to fight the elimination of the backlog. She learned about the provision in Bill C-38 through a web forum and has since participated in two protest demonstrations in Hong Kong.

Last word: "CIC should take the responsibility of wasting our time. If you want to reject us, you should have told us years earlier so that we can make another plans or choose another country. Does Jason Kenney realize how cruel it is to destroy people's hopes and dreams? That's totally inhumane and immoral . . . Jason Kenney is more like a bully. He is a minister of anti-immigration!"

- Rakesh Das, 35, Krishna Nagar, West Bengal, India. High school biology teacher:
Told it would take five years to process his file when he first applied to come to Canada in October 2007, Das was devastated when he learned — "like a thunderbolt from the blue" — that after all his preparations, the Canadian government was going to throw out his application.

"Lured" by Canadian government ads that "painted a rosy future" for newcomers based on support for human rights, he says he'd been looking forward to a better life for himself and his aging mother. He took out a loan so he could hire an immigration consultant for about $2,000 to help navigate the paperwork; spent about $250 for language testing; and even shelled out to get his educational transcripts certified.

He says his occupation was deemed no longer in demand back in 2008, and questions why the government didn't just return his application four years ago. If it had, he could have taken advantage of an opportunity to move to South Africa or Australia and would likely have been "settled down by now," he says.

Last word: "Dear Minister. Please be humane to think kindly as many lives are at stake. We want to be a part of Canada and contribute to the economic development of Canada. Be kind enough to give these applicants a chance to show their mettle before rejecting them outright."

- Yiming Jiang, 30, Huang Gang, China. Production supervisor, cosmetics company:
Jiang applied to become a permanent resident under the Federal Skilled Worker Program in December 2007. Single, he planned to come alone and shelled out about $2,400 for an immigration consultant.

He considers himself a "persuasive salesman" and quick learner who is versatile and capable of adapting easily, though he worries his occupation is not among those Canada needs to fill labour market gaps.

He learned on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website about the plan to eliminate the backlog, and has since become something of an activist. He spearheaded a petition against Bill C-38 as well as protests in Hong Kong and has mobilized applicants to fight the move in court. He is among 900 litigants who earlier sued the government for failing to process applications in a timely manner.

A reluctant "leader in this resistance," he says the "anxiety and pressure" is like nothing he's ever experienced and he fears for his own fate should the battle be lost.

Last word: "China is such a stressful place, nobody want to show up in front of the embassy in Beijing with me, and I have fear that my behavior will irritate the government too, because so many people told me it's dangerous . . . I feel dreams can easily be broken, and it hurts to know that there is one more thing in this life that is not to be trusted, and it hurts to know that Canada is totally a different place from what I have learned. And after you've made such great effort for something for so many years, it proves to be in vain eventually. That hurts too."

- Qilin (Irene) Liao, 42, Chengdu, China. Accountant:
Liao first applied to come to Canada six years ago when her son was 11, in the hopes he would be able to receive a western education. He's now 17 and instead received a visa months ago to study in Australia. But the backup plan has effectively split their family. She's now living in Melbourne with her son on a guardian visa but it means she can't work and her husband, under Australian law, must stay behind in China to support them.

It's the first time the family has been separated for so long and Liao says she feels like a "drifter" due to their temporary status. It also means high international student fees and insurance costs that would not have been an issue had they become permanent Canadian residents five years ago.

She and her husband, a manager at an automation engineering company, looked forward to running their own business in Toronto and had been preparing financially and emotionally for the move by studying English more aggressively and getting up to speed on lifestyle, culture and community issues through the Internet.

She's says she does not believe she will qualify if she re-applies, due to her age and occupation, and feels that had she known in advance that the queue was being dissolved, she would have considered another country before she turned 40.

Last word: "I understand we are not welcomed by Canadian government any more as most Canadians claim the immigration is just our privilege, not right . . . The only thing I may never understand is why Canadian government had been lying to the applicants, that the applications would be processed all the time. I should say, as a politician, Mr. Kenney is a brave man. So brave to eliminate the backlog of 280,000 worldwide. As a man, the representative of Canadian government, a coward, unable to take responsibility of the wrong immigration policy."

tcohen@postmedia.com






End of the line: Potential immigrants who have lost their place in the queue tell their stories