I sent this email to CIC this morning:
Dear CIC,
It is rather interesting that how we were all told that the move from AB to Mississauga is designed to help with faster processing times. At the time of my application, the wait time was less than 7 months for Inland Sponsorship. People were also receiving AORs so that they knew that their applications were complete and there was no risk of the packet being sent back. Currently, the processing time for just the first stage is 12 months straight up. I'm sure you know the many long-term social consequences there are for this kind of unnecessary delay but I'd still like to list it down for you (these are for spousal sponsorships):
1. Affect on relationships and family planning:
Because of this delay, many of us have to hold off to having kids. Many of us have planned our careers and educational goals around the curve of balancing our home life with that of the public life. We want to give our kids the best of education and the best of parental care. Your delay in processing our application puts us under unnecessary stress of re-designing our goals. You have to see that not all of us/our partners are in their younger years. Some decisions are more urgent than others. This being one.
2. Financial strain and reinforcing patriarchy:
Many of us are wives waiting for our sponsorship/OWPs to go through. As amazing as our partners are, who have taken care of all of our financial needs as we move through this process, it puts us, women, in an incredibly awkward situation. Especially women like me who have been financially and otherwise independent and emancipated from a very young age, to now have to rely on my husband's credit card for something as little as a Sushi lunch is an incredibly embarrassing experience. Yes, when you are married you are halves of each other, but to burden one partner with everything, from your emergency health costs to your $3.00 TTC token is a disempowering situation. As such, many of us are reduced to fulfilling traditional gender roles of cooking and cleaning and staying at home for majority of the time when this system is entirely against the values of our marriage and relationship. We are in a feminist and empowering relationship, and your delays make it that much more difficult for us to live up to these principles in practice. Canada prides itself on being one of the most giving countries in terms of human rights. Your processing delays violate our fundamental right of freedom and dignity for ourselves, and our families.
3. Educational and job halt:
Many of us have to completely waste an entire year of our lives. We can't even enroll in a certificate program. We can't work where we can put our education to good use. I have been an outstanding student my entire life. I have never had to pay a single cent for my private boarding school education in BC or my college in Indiana, USA. For someone who has always had merit-based full-ride scholarships, who has studied politics and human development, as well as art, CIC is keeping Canada from benefiting these skills that I possess. Same goes for other highly educated couples. A one whole year of availing the benefits of this country's safety, security, and general air of freedom and we can't contribute to make it a better place apart from highly restricted forms of volunteer services? Is this the kind of civic engagement Canada is aiming for? I don't think so.
4. Stress on the extended family:
There are cultural aspects which CIC seems to be unaware of. Especially from a South Asian perspective. Being a couple that has had strong opposition from our families regarding our relationship, this delay makes it more difficult for us to convince our families that we are right for each other. Especially when there is a power imbalance and it is me, the woman, who has to deal with the brunt of it. Countless sleepless nights and crying on my husband's shoulders increases stress in our relationship. There is so much I can do professionally and by being the mom that I want to be to prove to myself and to our families, but guess what? I can't do any of that because my husband has to support me financially and has to be around for his widowed mother, emotionally.
5. Travel restrictions:
Apart from the financial issue, I haven't been able to attend any conferences I have been a regular attendee of for the past few years. Why? Because they are all in the USA and it is not advisable to travel internationally while a PR application is in process inland. I have given talks in the past at some of the most acknowledged conferences in the US but this year, I was chained to my home. My husband is going to some of these events and speaking but can you imagine how small that makes me feel that not only I can't watch & support my husband while he is out there on the stage but that, in many ways, I have to let him take my place?
This is not an emotional appeal to you. It is a letter to let you know the bigger picture which sudden & unexplained delays help shape up. I hope that my this email is not going to get lost in the internet abyss and maybe someone will read this and try to reflect on how we can make things easier for everyone. I am sure that there must be a VERY good reason for these delays, but when you do not explain it to those of us affected, we are left in an a weird state of limbo and most of our days are spent speculating the worse. I have a lot of faith in the Canadian system. I just hope that I can find reasons to keep this faith alive.
Thank you for your time to read through this message.
I hope to hear something soon.
Best,
xx
UCI: xx (spousal sponsorship)
Phone: xx
