OK dear friends ............... This to me is the Final draft of the letter after all the amendments made by fellow members .......... I have added back the children part to it since some of us are suffering from this problem and it also has an emotional value to the contents of the letter. If anyone wants to suggest any further change please indicate the change in RED so we can see instead of going through the whole letter again ........one more suggestion ....... if you are sending it to your Non-conservative MP or Jack Layton or anyone in Admin such as Director ....... better not congratulate them on conservative majority ...... just remove the first paragraph and rest of should the the same I guess ..... in terms of sending it I guess we can send it at the same time since Canada post is not going to deliver it same day anyways ........ Thanks
Mr. Jason Kenny
Honorable Minister for Citizenship and Immigration
Re: Spousal Visa processing time for applicants from Pakistan
Dear Honorable Minister,
I take the opportunity to congratulate your party for winning a sweeping majority from every corner of Canada, in particular from ridings with majority of voters with Pakistani background such as in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
I would like to bring to your attention a very touchy matter, since 2008 (when it used to be 6 months), the spousal visa time frame at Canadian High Commission Pakistan has consistently been increasing and now in the last update has hit an all time high average time of 21 month (this excludes the 45 days time it takes at Processing office in Mississauga).
The emotional toll and suffering we have to go through during the waiting time is unbearable and cannot be described in words, it is of no question that it is the worst of all experiences in one's life and puts an unnecessary stress on relationship, work performance and future goals, some of the sponsors have new born children, born out of marriage relationship while waiting (for average of 21 months) for their spouses to reunite with them and missing those golden moments as parents in the first year of child's birth, something which no amount of money can buy, all this I believe defies the spirit of family reunification as described in Citizenship and Immigration Act of Canada.
It is quite surprising and disturbing to witness that our neighbouring country (India) with identical culture and background has spousal visa processing time of only 6 months. I am not sure if unusual waiting time at Canadian High Commission Islamabad is due to reduction in spousal visa quota for Pakistan or understaffing issues at Canadian High Commission Islamabad but being a tax payer and active member of Canadian society I strongly feel that our community should not be subject to the pain and suffering ensuing from this extraordinary long waiting time just to reunite with our spouses.
I believe that your office will take necessary steps to look into this matter to help hundreds of Pakistani spouses in Canada. We require your help since you are the leaders chosen by our staunch support and mandate.
Thank you kindly,
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Date of application and status of application if you wish to otherwise just file number should be fine .