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PR Card Delays due to COVID

sklenny92

Member
Mar 8, 2019
15
2
My husband and I did a soft landing after at the start of March just before travel restrictions kicked in. Unfortunately his PR card/application hasn't been processed at all. We've since gone back to the country we are currently living in, but he needs a PR card to apply for Canadian training for his profession (they are very strict about this). If we don't receive a card by the end of August then we might not be able to go back to my home province for several years. We've tried emailing immigration but we just got back a generic response that didn't really answer any questions. Is there anything we can do at this point?
 

sklenny92

Member
Mar 8, 2019
15
2
Because we are applying for a training program that we will be committed to for 3 years. If he doesn't get into my home province we have a small chance in a few other provinces because they don't have this same PR Card requirement. Otherwise have to go overseas before Canada will allow him to work.
 

thevisawhisperer

Champion Member
Jun 10, 2020
2,001
343
West Coast
PR and the PR card are not the same thing. If your husband has completed the landing process (documents signed by CBSA and by him at a Port of Entry) then he is a PR and is entitled to work in Canada. This business about requiring a PR card before he can apply to a training program is a policy, with no basis in law, in terms of who is permitted to work or study in Canada.
 

sklenny92

Member
Mar 8, 2019
15
2
PR and the PR card are not the same thing. If your husband has completed the landing process (documents signed by CBSA and by him at a Port of Entry) then he is a PR and is entitled to work in Canada. This business about requiring a PR card before he can apply to a training program is a policy, with no basis in law, in terms of who is permitted to work or study in Canada.
Hi, I'm aware he is legally allowed to work in Canada and that he actually has PR, but this the training is known for being very inflexible about requirements. He is not allowed to work in his field without going through the training so it doesn't really matter to us whether it has basis in law or is just an internal policy.

Is there any way to fast track this? Are PR Cards being processed at all atm?
 

thevisawhisperer

Champion Member
Jun 10, 2020
2,001
343
West Coast
Work at another job until the next training opportunity presents itself? You can send a request for expedited processing through the webform, but I wouldn't count on any speedy responses from anyone.
 

sklenny92

Member
Mar 8, 2019
15
2
Work at another job until the next training opportunity presents itself? You can send a request for expedited processing through the webform, but I wouldn't count on any speedy responses from anyone.
He can't really do that with his profession (he's a doctor), training programs don't look very favourably at taking time away from medicine. We've been trying to get into the country for the last 2 or 3 years. It's a ridiculously hard process and PR is only one small component of a very complicated wider puzzle.

I've tried the webform and we just got a generic response that didn't answer anything. I will try the training program next and see it they might do some sort of covid compassionate exemption.
 

sklenny92

Member
Mar 8, 2019
15
2
Sounds like you're an innocent victim of an unfeeling system, compounded by delays and glitches due to a global pandemic. Sorry for your situation.
Thanks for your compassion. I know we are quite privileged/lucky to be able to do a soft landing in early March before the travel restrictions kicked in. There a lot of people on the forum that are having a much scarier time atm.

It's just hard sometimes because there is such a disconnect between the need for small town GPs and the process it takes foreign trained doctors to enter the country, even when healthcare systems are comparable.
 

thevisawhisperer

Champion Member
Jun 10, 2020
2,001
343
West Coast
As a Canadian citizen I feel that the more rigorous the process to ensure that foreign-trained doctors are up to Canadian standards the better, but some (or quite a bit) of the licensing process is about protecting doctors' livelihoods. Here's hoping for a system that protects the public without a patina of protectionism.