Evidence of meeting #32 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 40th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was long.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Barrister and Solicitor, Partner, Long Mangalji LLP, As an Individual
I believe the materials are somehow sent. I am not exactly sure how that process works, but it takes around three months.
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
I'm not sure if this is correct—you can correct me if I'm incorrect—but I heard that it was through diplomatic bag. That takes a very long time, right?
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
How many times a year have your clients told you that diplomatic bags go from Canada to Ghana?
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
I've heard four times a year, but I--
Is it two times? Okay.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Two, verified by the post itself. So right now you're looking at 55 months before your decision is made. If a decision is made in the middle of June and the diplomatic pouch is going out at the end of the year, you're looking at about 60 months before they're ordered to look at the case.
If they're ordered to look at the case, what time for processing are they looking at again? Ten months, 12 months, or 13 months?
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
It's quite a long time. At that point you have to get a new criminal check and a new medical check. All that has to be processed again, along with waiting for the medical practitioner to send the results to Paris.
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
I'm not sure. Do you have an estimate? I'm not exactly sure.
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
Yes.
Barrister and Solicitor, Partner, Long Mangalji LLP, As an Individual
It depends on the visa post.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
So you could be looking at about 70 months if the visa post decides they don't believe the bona fides of the marriage. Or if they do believe it, you could be looking at 35 to 40 months before the spouse is in Canada. That's three and a half years. Is that something that you think is fair?
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
No. In fact, that's what we were talking about in our submission. Parkdale Community Legal Services believes that this is simply not fair, especially when you look at the inconsistency in wait times across visa offices.
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
The Canadian Council for Refugees released a report yesterday. Their recommendation is to have more resources at visa offices. They talk about Nairobi processing so many files from different countries; I believe it's 18 different countries that the Nairobi office processes. That sort of statistic simply doesn't make sense when you think families are waiting for—
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Ms. Pollock, has that changed, to your knowledge, in the last three or four years? Or has it always been the same amount of people coming in, the same office, and the same officers? Has that changed?
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
Do you mean the number of applications?
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
The number of applications hasn't gone up or down. If you look at the numbers, it's still the same, but have the schematics of the application or the process changed?
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
Elizabeth was mentioning that the appointment of board members has--
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
That's the IRB. Let's forget the IRB. Let's talk about the normal process.
Has there been a change in the number of the officers they have or the number of cases coming over from Nairobi or Ghana? Are there more people coming from there so that all of a sudden we have twice as many people coming?
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
No. There are other visa offices that have more applications but shorter processing times.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
So for Nairobi, Ghana, their source countries in Africa, instead of speeding up the process and making sure that it's fair with the rest of the globe, they're slow?
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
Yes. They're very slow.
Law Student, Caseworker, Immigration and Refugee Law Division, Parkdale Community Legal Services
Yes, exceptionally slow.