Feel free to borrow from my letter if you like.
February-4-10
RE: Alarming Processing Time at HC NairobiDear Minister Kenney;
This is the third letter we have written to your office in two years about the processing times for visas and citizenship paperwork from the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi. The first letter to your predecessor actually produced some results; for a short time immigration work in the Kenya office sped up. But last year it slowed again. Recently, the Canadian Council for Refugees published a report, Nairobi: Protection Delayed, Protection denied, highlighting the extraordinarily long processing times at the Nairobi visa office. I hope this third letter will result in some permanent positive change.
As parents of children from Ethiopia, we have watched the immigration process change and evolve over the last few years. It is discriminatory, intentionally or not, that the same visa and citizenship processes should take a fraction of the amount of time in other High Commissions throughout the world, while some of the world’s most vulnerable people in the 18 countries HC Nairobi serves should wait. And wait. And wait.
For children being adopted to Canadian families, this means more time in institutional care and less time growing in a healthy family. For refugees, however, this wait can mean no healthcare, no access to education, and exposure to despair and violence while languishing in refugee camps. Even for sponsored children (family class), the average processing time (24 months) is almost 5 times the global average of 5 months. It’s shameful and unfair.
HC Nairobi has been chronically understaffed and ignored. It’s time to stop Canada’s discriminatory resource allocation by properly staffing and expanding the capacity at our Canadian High Commission in Nairobi. Alternatively, the Consular Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, should be expanded to High Commission status and relieve half of the workload from the Kenyan High Commission.
Will you permanently address this immigration issue? We look forward to your action and your reply.
Most sincerely;
CC: Immigration critics; Ron Cannan, MP; Prime Minister Stephen Harper
February 4th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
Thanks, Nicky! I borrowed
Claire
February 5th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Me too! thanks
shirley
February 5th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Thanks for these letters, Nicky. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Harper has prorogued Parliament so all standing committees have been disolved, no decisions are being made. I received a response to my letter from a member of the Standing Committee on Citizenship & Immigration who estimates that once Parliament starts up again in March, the standing committees may be able begin their hearings in April! Good old Harper. At least this committee member supports this issue, which is good news.
February 5th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
I KNOW - it’s crazy isn’t it? But those letters are still categolgued and address by according to how many people write in. (When they get workin again!)
A side note - a letter is worth much more in counts than an email, so if you can print sign and mail a copy, please do! I think it’s worth 800 people…. a printed letter.
February 5th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
This is a terrific letter. It is interesting how the CIC works. A friend of mine works there and she is continually baffled by the conflicting and often discriminatory rules. She alerted me to this one, effective April 17, 2009:
“Children adopted outside Canada who take the direct route to citizenship will be treated just like any child born outside Canada to a Canadian parent. This means that if that adopted person has, or adopts, a child outside Canada, their child will not be Canadian at birth or eligible for a citizenship grant using the direct route, unless the other parent was born or naturalized in Canada.
Children adopted outside Canada who come to the country as permanent residents and obtain citizenship through a regular grant are subject to the same rules as anyone born or naturalized in Canada. This means that any children they have outside Canada would automatically acquire Canadian citizenship, and their children adopted outside Canada would be eligible for a grant of citizenship through the direct route, without having to first become permanent residents.”
from: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/c.....enship.asp
What this means for me, is that my next child will be adopted going the permanent resident route (again) so I don’t end up limiting their family choices down the road. Incidentally, the permanent resident visa in South America is issued by one country (not my daughter’s birth country) and not before the medical is approved at yet another office in another country (once again, not my daughter’s birth country). I didn’t mind that much as it gave us 2 months to soak in the culture of my daughter’s birth country. However, I do know for some that an exteneded period of time away from home can be a strain on their ability to manage their household affairs. As if the delays to acquire either weren’t enough, even worse is that it sets up second tier status citizenship for internationally adopted children. I already wrote my letter and indicated that this will likely be addressed 20 years down the road once these kids and their families begin lobbying the government to change yet another misguided citizenship law.
February 5th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
I KNOW - this drives me crazy too! I sure hope it will be fixed before my girls have their kids… at the moment they are planning 6 girls and 6 boys (Sugar - “all in uterus same time”) and 3 girls (Spice: “one in uterus and 2 adopted.”)