A mistake by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada could cost him his job

An immigrant from the Netherlands, who has been living in Quebec since 2020, finds herself without work overnight, after Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada made an error when requesting an extension for her work permit.

Marianne Bosman arrived in Quebec in 2020 under the sponsorship of her partner. In September 2023, she was appointed to an environmental company in civil engineering.

In March 2023, M^I Bosman applied for bail via the permanent residence portal. In July 2023, she applied to renew her work permit using a “GC key,” a tool that serves as proof of identity and protects communications with government services and programs. In total, the two orders cost him $1,335.

But IRCC took $85 from the work permit extension application amount to pay for the biometric data, even though it had already maintained that data and it was still valid.

“They took $85 for the biometrics already in their system, and because of this, the total budget for my work permit became $160 instead of $255,” explains the young woman from Trois-Rivières, who speaks very passable French.

Result: The extension request was rejected and she has not received any income for more than a week, causing her financial and psychological pressure. She fears she will not be able to return to her position if the situation is not resolved quickly.

“My employer wants to support me wherever possible. However, if my situation is not resolved soon, it is worrying. It cannot take months because they need someone to do the work,” says M.^I Bossman.

She denounced IRCC's “stagnation”.

She sent a letter requesting reconsideration on February 6, hoping that IRCC would reverse the decision, but the process could take several months as she would not receive a salary. What she wants is a quicker reconsideration, a reversal by IRCC or simply granting her a work permit extension.

Immigration lawyer, M^H Maxime Lapointe deplores IRCC's inertia in processing this type of request.

“IRCC should give 30 days to respond in the event of an incomplete file, as they do outside Canada, and not stupidly reject the file,” he points out, recalling that the harm is great for immigrants who lose their right to work for several years. Months.

M^H Lapointe believes IRCC should do so, especially in the context of increasing migration.

He concludes that “such refusals are avoidable and, unfortunately, will become more frequent given the increasing number of migrants with temporary status who constantly need to renew it.”

Newspaper IRCC inquired about incomplete permit renewal applications and the possibility of giving immigrants a deadline, before rejecting work permit extension applications. At the time of writing, no response had been received.