A Cameroonian expelled from Canada in 2020 for continuing to work part-time after graduating was finally able to return to Quebec on Saturday.
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Rose Eva, a young Cameroonian programmer, was expected at 3pm at Pierre-Elliot Trudeau Airport by her family and elected representatives of the Bloc Québécois.
As a reminder, the young woman came to Quebec in 2017 to do an engineering degree in computer programming at the Teccart Institute in Montreal.
She was a full-time student and worked part-time in a clothing store in Mirabel, as permitted by law.
She managed to finish her program ahead of other students, graduating three months early in September 2019.
In December of the same year, Rose Eva went to Lacolle Customs to apply for permanent resident status.
After a series of questions, she was asked when she finished her studies and whether she worked afterwards. The Cameroonian answered honestly.
According to Canada Immigration officials, Rose Eva was wrong. She should have stopped working the same day she graduated and then her student visa should have been changed so she could work without going to school.
The 23-year-old was expelled from the country in January 2020 and was only able to return this Saturday.
When he arrived at the airport, elected officials from the Bloc Québécois took the opportunity to denounce the flaws in the federal immigration system.
“Immigration Canada and the federal government must do better and improve their policies and communications to prevent this type of situation from happening again,” argued MPs Rhéal Éloi Fortin and Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe.
“Believing that she could legally continue her work as her college years were not officially over, Rose Eva made an honest mistake that cost her dearly. We believe that the regulation deserves clarification and, above all, improvement, especially in the current context in which many employers are fighting labor shortages,” said Alexis Brunelle Duceppe, who proposes the abolition of this administrative formality.
Since last fall, Immigration Canada has allowed certain students to meet the 20-hour weekly limit of off-campus work.
Some students are even allowed to work full-time during scheduled breaks, regardless of their study load.
“The case of Rose Eva illustrates well the slowness and lack of judgment of the federal authorities,” deputies from the Bloc Québécois condemned. We collectively robbed ourselves of a valuable computing resource for three years, fresh out of college in Quebec, and perfectly integrated into our society, although labor shortages have hit and continue to hit many sectors of our economy hard.