Things I Wish I knew As a Refugee Claimant

[ref19to22]

I hope this helps others, please add your experience as well:

1. It can take 5+years from claimant to citizenship
2. You cannot and should not travel on your national passport after becoming a claimant, until citizenship
3. It will take my overseas partner at least 2 years AFTER I get my PR to get her PR, and little to no chance of TRV for her
4. IFHP covers therapy sessions (mental health) from the first day you are covered as a claimant (with a Dr's referral etc)
5. File your taxes the first year you are in Canada even if you dont have income, so you can start getting credits/benefits from the government
6. The different government agencies barely communicate with each other, and IRCC needs so much follow up its exhausting
7. There are many community organizations who support refugees, finding them and getting involved is a life saver

 

[canuck78]

I hope this helps others, please add your experience as well:

1. It can take 5+years from claimant to citizenship
2. You cannot and should not travel on your national passport after becoming a claimant, until citizenship
3. It will take my overseas partner at least 2 years AFTER I get my PR to get her PR, and little to no chance of TRV for her
4. IFHP covers therapy sessions (mental health) from the first day you are covered as a claimant (with a Dr's referral etc)
5. File your taxes the first year you are in Canada even if you dont have income, so you can start getting credits/benefits from the government
6. The different government agencies barely communicate with each other, and IRCC needs so much follow up its exhausting
7. There are many community organizations who support refugees, finding them and getting involved is a life saver

1. Getting PR can easily take 5+ years. Going from asylum claimant to Canadian citizen in around 5 years is extremely rare. It can take 5+ years to get approved to be able to remain in Canada. Many do not have their asylum claims approved. They appeal, then apply for judicial review and then apply for H&C if JR denied. Just getting the results of your asylum claim from the time you claimed asylum can take over 2 years although most have had a hearing within the 2 years these days.

3. It doesn’t take 2 years after you receive PR for a spouse of children under 22 to be reunited with their family member in Canada. It will likely take 2+ years after the family member applied for PR for them to also receive PR and be able to move to Canada to join their family member.
4. IFHP does cover counselling sessions while provincial health plans do not. People can get coverage for typically a limited amount of counselling sessions a year through the extended health benefit plan if one is offered by their employer. There is likely to be a wait list to be able to access counselling because there is more demand than supply so you may need to wait quite a while to access counselling and may be limited to a certain level of sessions.

 

[helpme1]

1. Getting PR can easily take 5+ years. Going from asylum claimant to Canadian citizen in around 5 years is extremely rare. It can take 5+ years to get approved to be able to remain in Canada. Many do not have their asylum claims approved. They appeal, then apply for judicial review and then apply for H&C if JR denied. Just getting the results of your asylum claim from the time you claimed asylum can take over 2 years although most have had a hearing within the 2 years these days.

3. It doesn’t take 2 years after you receive PR for a spouse of children under 22 to be reunited with their family member in Canada. It will likely take 2+ years after the family member applied for PR for them to also receive PR and be able to move to Canada to join their family member.
4. IFHP does cover counselling sessions while provincial health plans do not. People can get coverage for typically a limited amount of counselling sessions a year through the extended health benefit plan if one is offered by their employer. There is likely to be a wait list to be able to access counselling because there is more demand than supply so you may need to wait quite a while to access counselling and may be limited to a certain level of sessions.

Thanks for wisdom as always. How does applying for asylum affect the person claiming and their family outside the country ? By family i mean parents, siblings etc. Does it affect their travel ? and if so is it only to five nations ? Thanks.

 

[canuck78]

Thanks for wisdom as always. How does applying for asylum affect the person claiming and their family outside the country ? By family i mean parents, siblings etc. Does it affect their travel ? and if so is it only to five nations ? Thanks.

It can make getting a visitor visa or a study/work permit difficult. It can impact any country that shares immigration information with Canada.