After the passport crisis, administrative setbacks continue on other travel document applications, a mess that has serious consequences for a trifluvienne from France stranded abroad.
Marion Curé has not been able to return home for three weeks. Since June 15, she has been trying unsuccessfully to renew her permanent residence card.
As she gathered papers for her trip scheduled for June 26, she realized she had misplaced her card.
On Immigration Canada’s website, she said the time frame shown for such an emergency request is four to six days. Two months later, she still hasn’t received her document.
“Our trip to France is to see my father who has very serious health problems that are getting worse by the day, so it was like a last trip to see him in person,” she explained.
So she took the opportunity to leave, hoping to get her card urgently during her trip to Europe.
Stranded at the airport when it was time to leave, the mother of the family had to send her daughters back to Quebec alone. Her nine-year-old twins took the plane to find their father in Montreal before returning to Trois-Rivières.
Since July 16, Ms Curé has been trying to obtain a permanent residence travel document that would allow her to return without her card. It was not easy for her to get her request through.
She had initially presented herself with her papers, only to have the application denied on the spot, telling her that this method had not been accepted for two years. Ms. Curé replied that she had lived in Quebec for the past 13 years and was unaware of this change.
She then sent the necessary documents to the embassy without being told that her passport had to be part of the documents, although she only produced the photocopy. Passport by registered mail, she was waiting for news.
The documents were finally received on August 1, and processing of his application began on Wednesday. During all this time, it was practically impossible for Marion Curé to follow up on the message.
“We have no communication, we don’t know what’s going on with our files,” she said.
Her husband and daughters have been waiting helplessly for her return to Trois-Rivières for three weeks.
“I can’t believe it can take three weeks to fill out a paper,” said her spouse Sébastien Douville. He is under a lot of stress since his wife is stuck in France alone with their two little girls.
Since the woman’s request had just been processed and her flight ticket for Saturday had been bought, another hurdle arose.
When Ms. Curé was on her way to collect her passport, she was told that it was being sent to her by post instead. She has to wait until he comes to leave the country and with the weekend approaching she might have to wait until Monday.
“I’m a nurse at CHAUR and I only see my colleagues because a nurse is absent at night,” said the employee of the Trois-Rivières hospital.
Without sharing the information for urgent applications, Immigration Canada TVA Nouvelles replied that the deadline was posted on their website. As of Thursday, it was 62 days for a permanent resident card. It is also noted that deadlines are subject to change depending on the size of the request and the ability to process it.
It is clear to the family that the next step is to apply for Canadian citizenship for Ms. Curé, who will then no longer have to go through the same situation.