I was just clarifying that the doctors don't actually work for Canada. They work for Cuba. Certainly, the Government of Canada revoked the licenses of the Cuban doctors...maybe there was something fishy going on. Certainly, the Government of Cuba will not be happy about losing this revenue. (My husband worked for a French construction company and the company paid the Government of Cuba $150/day for him. He got $20/month). I am just hoping that there will be no retribution and embassy staff workers "taking their time sending applications to Mexico".
Havana, Cuba
- Thread starter KJG
- Start date
I was just clarifying that the doctors don't actually work for Canada. They work for Cuba. Certainly, the Government of Canada revoked the licenses of the Cuban doctors...maybe there was something fishy going on. Certainly, the Government of Cuba will not be happy about losing this revenue. (My husband worked for a French construction company and the company paid the Government of Cuba $150/day for him. He got $20/month). I am just hoping that there will be no retribution and embassy staff workers "taking their time sending applications to Mexico".
They say the reason for all of this is the staff reduction due to the health and safety of Canadian staff. I think our biggest concern is to be able to do Medicals and Biometrics in Cuba due to cost and difficulty of travel for Cubans. Medical and Biometrics are done by outside contractors (Cubans) so that has no effect on any Canadians health. This should be a main talking point with MP's and immigration minister if we want to win any change in this decision.
I agree. And if there are issues with the embassy site itself, they could surely move biometrics to another location. I think there is a lot of shifting stories right now and we need to wait a couple of weeks until it all shakes out. The woman who owns the casa particular where my husband was staying yesterday and today says that both the Canadian and American embassies shake down every so often and she suspects that they'll be back in action within a month. Small comfort for those of us that just blew a lot of $$ getting our family to Havana this week from other provinces.
There may be more action after this - this is our story:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cuba-canada-embassy-visa-immigration-von-scheel-1.5133017
The reporter was lovely, but I will say I was disappointed in how she represented the response from my MPs office - they have been absolutely fantastic but they only found out about my situation on Friday morning - so not really enough to time to find out what's going on in my opinion. They were in touch ALL day on Friday.
I hope we hear something more positive very soon!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cuba-canada-embassy-visa-immigration-von-scheel-1.5133017
The reporter was lovely, but I will say I was disappointed in how she represented the response from my MPs office - they have been absolutely fantastic but they only found out about my situation on Friday morning - so not really enough to time to find out what's going on in my opinion. They were in touch ALL day on Friday.
I hope we hear something more positive very soon!
lol...yeah...are we surprised?
I heard on Wednesday and Friday when I called the IRCC that the agents didn't know what was going on and hadn't received any scripts or protocols to deal with it (and they hadn't even received the notice posted on the IRCC website!). I felt badly for the agents - there is obviously a huge communication gap even within the IRCC.
I just wrote the email below to Ahmed Hussen:
To the Hon. Ahmed Hussen:
I applied to sponsor my Cuban wife last June for permanent residency in Canada. (UCI xxxxxxxx)
We just were notified that the results of my wife’s medical check were received in Canada and that the file had been transferred from Sydney NS to Mississauga ON.
But my real concern is that according to the government web site all Cuban files will now be processed in Mexico. It can take months for a Cuban to get a Mexican visa because embassy interviews are generated by computer.
Every 2 weeks the Mexican embassy computer system opens to allow interview requests- for about 5 minutes. Their web site is always overloaded and therefore a large amount of luck is required for success.
There are other Spanish-speaking countries that have much easier visa access for Cubans (my wife has a current Peruvian visa, for example).
I am very worried that if the IRCC requires that my wife present herself in Mexico for an interview she will be unable to do so.
Please take this matter into consideration when finalizing plans for the future of the Cuban immigration process.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
To the Hon. Ahmed Hussen:
I applied to sponsor my Cuban wife last June for permanent residency in Canada. (UCI xxxxxxxx)
We just were notified that the results of my wife’s medical check were received in Canada and that the file had been transferred from Sydney NS to Mississauga ON.
But my real concern is that according to the government web site all Cuban files will now be processed in Mexico. It can take months for a Cuban to get a Mexican visa because embassy interviews are generated by computer.
Every 2 weeks the Mexican embassy computer system opens to allow interview requests- for about 5 minutes. Their web site is always overloaded and therefore a large amount of luck is required for success.
There are other Spanish-speaking countries that have much easier visa access for Cubans (my wife has a current Peruvian visa, for example).
I am very worried that if the IRCC requires that my wife present herself in Mexico for an interview she will be unable to do so.
Please take this matter into consideration when finalizing plans for the future of the Cuban immigration process.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
This is not a shake down. This is a Permanent Change. It only hurts us who are trying to bring our families together.
I called the IRCC call center at 6:30 am and discovered you can enter your application number and get the newest updates for the PR application:
Medical check passed.
No interview required.
BGC not yet started- anyone know how long this usually takes?
But good news regardless - we won’t have to struggle for a Mexican visa.
Medical check passed.
No interview required.
BGC not yet started- anyone know how long this usually takes?
But good news regardless - we won’t have to struggle for a Mexican visa.
Yes - but as I was telling the reporter - what I am advocating for with my MP is that Cubans be allowed to land and get biometrics/medicals in Canada within 7 days of landing. I do realize with the status quo and the bias against allowing Cuban spouses to visit, it isn't viable.
For now, we've gotten an extension of 60 days for the medicals. This is actually very little help because our son doesn't finish in the service until then end of July, but it gives us time to think and to plan.
Hoping we have more news within a month. Meanwhile, they are going to go through the process for visas to Panama and maybe we all have a vacation in August, in Panama. The next choice would be Bahamas - no visa required but a bit more expensive.
That only means No interview required at this time, that can change. When your application first starts it may say no medical required, bur we all know that will change. Sorry
Yes of course you are correct but we are 11 months into the application so I remain optimistic. And Mississauga has had our file for over a month - forwarded there after 10 months in Sydney- so they’ve already had plenty of time to change their minds.
Anyhow, since they have ample proof that we’ve lived together for 3+ years there’s not much reason for them to question the nature of our relationship.
Last edited:
How did you go about getting an extension? I have tried my MP, webform, the IRCC call line, hell, I even emailed Justin Trudeau, just to either get an extension for my biometrics OR to issue us the medical request so we can just bite the bullet and deal with all of this nonsense. I have received 0 response to date, and we are quickly running out of time.. any advice you could share would be greatly appreciated!
PS - are you sure you can go to Panama sans visa? I know they allow Cubans to stop over... but the Gov of Canada (and all online resources) are basically saying that Trinidad & Tobago is the only option... Barbados *could* in theory work, but its waaay too expensive.