February 9, 2025
Zadoretskyy has been tracking the applications of dozens of families, and said they believe several were “dropped from the queue” or “lost.” A group of thousands of applicants has been sharing their stories on Telegram. They’ve also petitioned the immigration minister, MPs and the media, to little avail.

Ukrainian families question Canada’s commitment as residency applications appear ‘lost’

IRCC confirms ‘technical glitch’ causing Ukrainian immigration applications to ‘disappear’ in system

As Canada plans cuts to immigration, Ukrainian families say they’re worried and “disoriented” after getting mixed messages about their permanent residency applications under a special humanitarian pathway to reunite families fleeing war.

Some applicants allege Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) “lost” their applications, and question Canada’s commitment to continue supporting Ukrainians as the war rages on in Ukraine and Russia.

“It worries me very much because it’s once again interruption of promises,” said Eugenia Pynchuk, a Canadian citizen, as she sat next to her father. Her parents are currently in Ottawa under a visitor visa that’s set to expire next year.

Pynchuk’s parents left behind their dental manufacturing business in Kharkiv, and last January applied for permanent residence (PR) under a newer Ukrainian family reunification stream. The popular Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program ended in 2023 and welcomed about 300,000 Ukrainian nationals.

The temporary PR stream aimed to “build on Canada’s commitment” to reunite families and allow Ukrainians to continue building their lives here if they have family who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

That pathway opened in October 2023 and closed a year later, but data from September 2024 released in response to an access to information request shows there had only been 135 admissions that year. The department also reached 191 final decisions and had about 17,438 applications waiting to be processed.

Meanwhile, the same dataset shows other temporary streams under humanitarian and compassionate pathways — such as those for residents from Hong Kong and the Americas — had thousands of applications processed over the same period.

CBC asked IRCC for updated numbers but it did not provide them by deadline.

Interesting Read…

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments