Missing Passports – An Unexpected Hurdle for Haitian Family Class Immigration

The federal government’s promise to fast track immigration applications from Haiti could be impossible to fulfill. The biggest obstacle is the requirement for a valid passport in order to process an immigration application. The earthquake of Jan 12 left many houses in ruins, and it is unlikely to expect that people will be able to produce their passports or any identity documents. However, without a proof of name, age, and family relationships it is very hard to process a family sponsorship application. Moreover, the immigration authorities need a passport to issue the visa in, and the passport with the visa is the legal means of entering Canada as an immigrant.

Many people think there is an easy solution to this problem. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act the immigration minister Kenney has the power to alter the requirements for immigration to Canada. It is within his powers to waive the requirement for a valid passport. However, according to Minister Kenney this will pose many problems.

Kenney has already agreed to waive the requirement for passport and medical examinations for a hundred Haitian orphans, who are to be adopted in Canada. At this point he is unwilling to do so for all Family Class emigrants for several reasons. The most important one of them is that lack of identity documents will make it difficult or impossible to perform a security and background check on a person. For this purpose a name and date of birth are essential. Canadian immigration authorities need to make sure that everybody who enters Canada does not present a health or security hazard to other Canadians.

Immigration lawyers, on the other hand, say that they can work around this requirement if the government will take an undertaking from Canadian citizens with good civil record why would testify who the prospective immigrant is and what the family relationship to the sponsor is.

While the government is mulling over this problem, it is strongly advisable for Canadians who have family members in Haiti to apply for sponsorship as soon as possible. They can apply ob their own or use representatives to make sure that applications are filled out correctly and all necessary documents are attached.

Maya Kotcheva