After a month of appealing a Canadian immigration mix-up, one Regina resident will now have her mother's support as her first child is born ? and for a long time after.
Liza Parekh and her husband are originally from India, but have lived in Regina since 2010. With the couple expecting its first baby in April, and Parekh battling gestational diabetes, she wanted her mother by her side.
Her mother applied for a Super Visa, a new option for visitors to Canada ? announced in November ? that would allow them to travel in and out of Canada and visit their family over a period of 10 years, with each stay lasting two years. Her mother completed the process but, when she showed up at the border on Feb. 18, border officials granted her only a sixmonth stay.
Parekh spent the next month trying to find out what happened, contacting Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.
On March 16, after weeks of wondering and going to the media, Parekh received a call from CIC informing her that her mother would now be allowed to stay until Feb. 15, 2014. No reason was given.
"It's a great relief. We're really relieved that we don't have to go through extensions and all of the uncertainty," Parekh says. "I honestly will need to return to work after a few months. Because of the uncertainty, I wouldn't have been able to plan my return to work. "But now I will be able to, because I know that (my mother) will be here longer than six months. It's just the family support that one can count on."
However, Parekh still feels dissatisfied about the whole process, which she says put a lot of unnecessary stress on her.
"In the end, they have to acknowledge that this should never have happened," Parekh says.
When the Leader-Post initially contacted CIC, the organization said it couldn't comment on specific cases. However, CBSA was able to look into Parekh's case. A CBSA spokesperson wrote that Parekh's mother didn't have con-firmation of a medical examination, which would make her ineligible for a two-year stay.
Parekh, however, said her mother had received a medical exam. Furthermore, according to a letter her mother received from the Government of Canada, "It is the DMPs (Designated Medical Practitioners) responsibility to forward all medical results directly to the Canadian High Commission." Parekh was unsure why the results wouldn't be available to the border officials.
Another problem, she adds, was that no interpreter was made available for her mother, who speaks little English. The CBSA spokesperson, however, said a certified interpreter was made available.
Overall, Parekh is frustrated with CBSA, which never replied to her inquiries during the process.
"I think that there's enough frustration out there among the general public," says Parekh, who adds there seems to be a disconnect between CIC and CBSA.
For Parekh, the final result was, "What we were planning for, but unfortunately it took us all these other headaches to get it." Her tale has a happy ending, but she fears others won't be so lucky.
"I think there could be many other people suffering like this because of discrepancies in the system," Parekh says.
jhamelin @ leaderpost.com
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