Work Permit Renewals
Canada speaks of its need for enterprising immigrants, individuals who will arrive in this country prepared to integrate and become valued citizens. People who see themselves as independent and responsible, unwilling to be a charge on society, and determined to make their own way.
As Ahmed-Sghir Guettaoui has been struggling to do. As an immigrant from Algeria, one who had been in the nursing profession there, he sought a better life for himself, and chose Canada. He left his native country to escape civil war and later violent unrest. His original application for refugee status in Canada was turned down.
He turned instead to other immigration channels, to become a landed citizen, and to be allowed to remain in the country with a view to taking out citizenship. He has been living and working in Canada with a work visa, one that must be renewed continually.
His application for permanent residence has been in the works for years and any decisions with respect to its status have been somewhere in the dark, as far as this man is concerned. He has been steadily employed within Canada, and pays taxes. But his status is unsettled and that's quite unsettling, would be for anyone.
In fact, he owns his own barbershop in Aylmer. From which place of work he was arrested, placed in handcuffs by three uniformed Canadian Border Services Agency officials, and taken to a detention centre where he was held for two days, until an immigration judge finally freed him. His sin? A lapse in the renewal of his work permit.
The problem related to some of his related documents being in the hands of the immigration office, despite his requesting their return. In a Kafkaesque display of impossible bureaucracy when he attended the office in an attempt to secure his new work permit, he was informed he required his old one, which in fact the office had in its files and hadn't returned.
Until his arrest. And then he was informed he had waited too long to effect a renewal through normal, ongoing channels, and he would instead have to re-apply for the permit through the immigration office located in Vegreville, Alberta.
The Border Services Agency officials had arrested Mr. Guettaoui while he was working in his barbershop. Slapped handcuffs on him and marched him away, in full sight of his customers, including a few children. The hard-working owner of the barbershop, hauled away; who was supposed to mind the shop?
"I have a business. I am healthy. I want to work. I do not want to go on welfare", he said when he was informed he is eligible for welfare, while awaiting the renewal of his work permit.
This man's file for permanent status in Canada has languished in immigration offices since 2003, with no activity since then. He is a fully contributing member of this society, committed to living in Canada, hoping for eventual citizenship. How insulting this kind of incident is, how unbelievable that a bureaucracy can be so disinterested in performing its function as it should.
Mr. Guettaoui has forwarded a pleading letter to Citizenship and Immigration, asking of them "Please let me be all I can be." And for heaven's sake, why ever not?
As Ahmed-Sghir Guettaoui has been struggling to do. As an immigrant from Algeria, one who had been in the nursing profession there, he sought a better life for himself, and chose Canada. He left his native country to escape civil war and later violent unrest. His original application for refugee status in Canada was turned down.
He turned instead to other immigration channels, to become a landed citizen, and to be allowed to remain in the country with a view to taking out citizenship. He has been living and working in Canada with a work visa, one that must be renewed continually.
His application for permanent residence has been in the works for years and any decisions with respect to its status have been somewhere in the dark, as far as this man is concerned. He has been steadily employed within Canada, and pays taxes. But his status is unsettled and that's quite unsettling, would be for anyone.
In fact, he owns his own barbershop in Aylmer. From which place of work he was arrested, placed in handcuffs by three uniformed Canadian Border Services Agency officials, and taken to a detention centre where he was held for two days, until an immigration judge finally freed him. His sin? A lapse in the renewal of his work permit.
The problem related to some of his related documents being in the hands of the immigration office, despite his requesting their return. In a Kafkaesque display of impossible bureaucracy when he attended the office in an attempt to secure his new work permit, he was informed he required his old one, which in fact the office had in its files and hadn't returned.
Until his arrest. And then he was informed he had waited too long to effect a renewal through normal, ongoing channels, and he would instead have to re-apply for the permit through the immigration office located in Vegreville, Alberta.
The Border Services Agency officials had arrested Mr. Guettaoui while he was working in his barbershop. Slapped handcuffs on him and marched him away, in full sight of his customers, including a few children. The hard-working owner of the barbershop, hauled away; who was supposed to mind the shop?
"I have a business. I am healthy. I want to work. I do not want to go on welfare", he said when he was informed he is eligible for welfare, while awaiting the renewal of his work permit.
This man's file for permanent status in Canada has languished in immigration offices since 2003, with no activity since then. He is a fully contributing member of this society, committed to living in Canada, hoping for eventual citizenship. How insulting this kind of incident is, how unbelievable that a bureaucracy can be so disinterested in performing its function as it should.
Mr. Guettaoui has forwarded a pleading letter to Citizenship and Immigration, asking of them "Please let me be all I can be." And for heaven's sake, why ever not?
Labels: Canada, Human Relations, Justice
posted by Pieface @ 6:32 PM
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