Ihor and Olena Politylo have made Richmond, B.C., their residence since 2022, after fleeing Ukraine when struggle broke out.
Ihor works as a constructing upkeep technician, and Olena as a authorized assistant. The married couple’s four-year-old daughter is ready to begin kindergarten in September.
However a deadline for Ukrainians to resume their Canadian visas is approaching and Ihor’s Ukrainian passport, which is required to be legitimate in the course of the brand new visa, is set to run out subsequent 12 months.
It is making their future in Canada unsure.
“Canada is our second residence now,” Ihor mentioned.
He’s certainly one of many Ukrainians overseas — particularly Ukrainian males of army age — who’re struggling to get their passports for Ukraine renewed.
Ukrainians who fled to Canada underneath non permanent emergency visas are going through uncertainty as their permits expire subsequent month. To remain in Canada, they have to apply for a piece allow extension or a pupil visa. However delays in consular companies from Ukraine may put these extensions in danger. Pinki Wong experiences.
When the struggle broke out in 2022, the federal government of Canada provided Ukrainian nationals non permanent refuge via the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Journey (CUAET) program, till March 31, 2025.
Now, these Ukrainians should apply for an extension to a working allow or a pupil visa by the tip of March in an effort to keep longer in Canada as non permanent residents. Candidates want a passport that is legitimate in the course of the visa extension.
Ihor’s Ukrainian passport expires too quickly, in March 2026.
The Embassy of Ukraine in Canada mentioned in a press release to CBC Information that Ukrainian males of army age (18-60) can renew their passports at a diplomatic mission — offered they replace their required army registration knowledge via the federal government app Rezerv+.
However that hasn’t labored for Ihor. When he tries to register his data within the app, it tells him to report back to a army workplace in Ukraine — one thing he would not wish to do.
If he returned to Ukraine to resume his passport, he can be topic to being conscripted and will not be allowed to depart the nation and are available again to Canada.
Ihor mentioned he’s listening to from household again in Ukraine that there are nonetheless frequent air assaults close to their residence, and he would not need his daughter, who was solely two once they left, to expertise that.
“She doesn’t know what struggle means and we would like it to remain like that,” Ihor mentioned. “She’s rising right here, she’s used to this nation.”
He hasn’t been unable to make an appointment on the nearest Ukrainian consulate, which he mentioned is in Edmonton, however is travelling there subsequent week with no assembly to attempt to get somebody to see him.
Widespread problem
Maria Valenta, a Canadian immigration guide with Immigration Advising Canada based mostly out of Toronto, mentioned she has over 400 Ukrainian shoppers who’re in an identical state of affairs.
Valenta mentioned many Ukrainians bought a brand new passport round 2015 when the nation first launched its biometric passport.
Which means that now, ten years later, their passports are expiring throughout the subsequent 12 months.
“Most of those individuals went via a lot hardship to try to discover a protected place,” Valenta mentioned.
“Plenty of them are going through this new main nervousness that they won’t be able to increase their permits, present for his or her households.”
And he or she mentioned even Ukrainians who should not military-age males are having issue extending their passports. Valenta mentioned whereas the March renewal deadline approaches, her shoppers who’ve managed to get an appointment with a Ukrainian consulate or embassy are booked for August on the earliest.
“Proper now the embassies are so overloaded, even ladies can not apply to increase their passports,” she mentioned.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) mentioned in a press release to CBC Information that immigration officers could contemplate exemptions to the passport requirement underneath distinctive circumstances on a case-by-case foundation — with the onus on the applicant to supply a proof.
However Valenta mentioned whether or not an exemption is granted is on the discretion of the officer reviewing the file, and candidates are sometimes denied.
Blanket extension of emergency visa
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has called for an automatic three-year extension for all Ukrainians underneath CUAET.
However in January, Immigration Minister Marc Miller mentioned the IRCC is not going to implement a blanket extension.
He mentioned whereas he wouldn’t drive Ukrainians to return to a struggle zone, the 300,000 who arrived underneath CUAET must apply to remain.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress is urging the federal authorities to increase a program offering free work visas and language courses that’s set to finish March 31. The federal government says it’s not trying to ship anybody again to Ukraine if their visas expire, however has mentioned it gained’t implement a blanket extension.
Ihor and Olena mentioned they’ve a number of mates in an identical state of affairs as themselves, and hope the Canadian authorities will change its coverage.
“We’re asking [the Canadian government] to supply us some confidence in our future. We’re okay to remain right here working, but additionally we wish to discover a strategy to construct our life,” Ihor mentioned.
Olena, who has a grasp’s diploma in regulation, added that they’re contributing members of society.
“We’re not refugee. We work right here, we pay taxes, we do the whole lot,” she mentioned.
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