What it takes to bring a Syrian refugee to Canada: Paperwork, interrogations and up to 18 months

Alia Dharssi, Postmedia News | September 13, 2015 3:23 PM ET
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AP Photo/Giannis PapanikosThe sun rises as refugees and migrants walk to pass from the northern Greek village of Idomeni to southern Macedonia, Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. The sudden onset of autumn has taken tens of thousands by surprise all along the Balkans route from Greece to Hungary, the main gateway to Western Europe for more than 160,000 asylum seekers already this year.
The numbers are a hot-button issue. But whether Canada lets in 10,000 or 100,000 refugees fleeing the continuing crisis in Syria, the process is largely the same — slow. In the last 20 months, for example, only 2,374 of the many thousands we have promised safe haven in Canada have actually made it here. Postmedia’s Alia Dharssi deconstructs the holdups, er, “process.”
ARE YOU OFFICIALLY A REFUGEE?
The first step toward Canadian refuge is certification by the country you have landed in or by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. You will, however, have to get in line: the Zaatari camp in Jordan, as just one example, houses more than 80,000 people. Your status may also depend on your background. For example, if you’re Kurdish, you can’t get UN registration done in Turkey, the landing pad for about 1.9 million refugees.
OK, BUT ARE YOU REALLY A REFUGEE?
Your papers all check out, according to some: now it’s Canada’s turn to decide if you’re the refugee you say you are. This is done by Canadian visa officers abroad — usually in the middle of nowhere, and often without the documentation applicants need. “Just imagine you’re doing all this in a camp-like situation and there are thousands of people, therefore we have all this paperwork,” says Ratna Omidvar, chair of Lifeline Syria and a professor at Ryerson University.
TELL ME IN PERSON.
Paperwork is just the start. Canadian visa officers also interview applicants and that means your entire family (who may have changed since you landed in a refugee camp) to see if their stories check out. Interviews are supposed to take 45 minutes to an hour. But Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, has heard about some lasting just 30 minutes — not enough time, she says, to figure out if someone or their entire family are refugees or not, especially if they are speaking through a translator. Worse: visa officers can lack specific training in dealing with refugees and legitimate cases can be rejected. In 2011, for example, the Federal Court ruled a
Canadian visa officer in Egypt had unreasonably rejected several Eritrean refugees. Among other issues, the officer did not give due consideration to the fact the UNHCR had already determined they were refugees and didn’t believe two applicants were Pentecostal Christians because they couldn’t name the “seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT JIHAD?
Once a visa officer decides a refugee application is credible, the next step is a security screenings. Checks for criminal records (anyone guilty of a war crime can’t come to Canada) and other red flags (signs of terrorist activity) are conducted in the country where the refugee is staying with the help of Interpol. If the security check raises any concerns, the applicant must wait for an interview with a Canadian Security Intelligence Service officer. Add the possibility of another 18- to 24-month delay.
COUGH, PLEASE
Refugees must also get medical clearance from doctors designated to conduct screenings by the Canadian government. You cannot be rejected because of an illness. But if you’re in the throes of one, say, tuberculosis, you do have to get treatment before you get on a plane to your new home. Timeline: a few months.
MEET YOUR BANKROLLERS
To get all your applications and medical exams, and finally a flight from your physical location to Canada, the government will give you up to $10,000. The bad news: it’s a loan you have to repay after the first month of your arrival. Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees says, not surprisingly, this can place a huge strain on people struggling to get their footing in a new country. For your first year, you will also likely need another $27,000 or so for a family of four. Some of this will be covered by the government, which oversees all refugees coming to Canada. But it usually pays only some of the bills. So far, it has fully paid for about 26 per cent of refugees. Another one per cent have their bills split between the government and private sponsors, and 73 per cent have had their costs covered completely by private sponsors.