Here is another question...My PR card expires in 2022. I travel a lot and do need to travel for personal reasons and for business.
My citizenship application has been in process since end of February.
It looks like I won't be getting my citizenship for another 2 years because of the backlog but I do intend to travel when the pandemic is over.
Why do I have to pay to extend my PR card?
And will I have to? As by 2022 I intended to get my citizenship. Let alone, it's another time-consuming process which could be eliminated.
Lost of people will have to extend their PR cards because of this which will also be a burden on their human resources.
Thoughts?
Ways around it?
I will be happy to hear opinions
It is very unlikely there will be any special relief to offset the cost of applying for a new PR card. That is a cost individual PRs will, almost certainly, have to bear personally. Among more than a few other likely losses and negative consequences.
Unfortunately when
stuff happens like this, there are huge costs. Many will pay. Some will pay more than others. Some will pay a lot more. How we pay will vary as much as how much.
Note, for example, that despite lots of help from the government, scores of small businesses will not recover. People will take losses, some merely hundreds of dollars in losses, some thousands, more than a few many thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in losses. Some bigger businesses have already lost MILLIONS that they will not recover, which of course will have a huge impact on those employed by those businesses. Government programs are struggling to keep the businesses from failing altogether. The government cannot make up for all the losses. No where near that.
This is going to take a bite out of many many millions of Canadians. Not all. But probably most. And for millions it will be a big bite.
I anticipate the government is already adjusting the workplace in its agencies, like IRCC, to accommodate migrating back toward a more robust workflow, with more adjustments to come. Including accelerating implementation of technology. As I previously noted, however, activities involving in-person events will likely be among the last to approach anything like normal.
Virtual oath ceremonies seem more in the range of wishful dreaming than pragmatic expectation, in Canada anyway, but there may be other work-a-round approaches for getting the last step of the citizenship process on track.
But no doubt, it is going to take longer going forward than it has in the past. How much longer is impossible to forecast.
So, in any event, as noted, I would not expect any relief from the cost of a PR card application. Sure, that is real money in many individual PRs' budgets. But not so much as a blip on the big screen. For those affected in this way, it will be their individual price to pay . . . and for many, unfortunately, this is likely to be among the smaller losses they suffer individually.
This is not an easy time. There are PRs and other Canadians currently stuck abroad who had plans to return to Canada which have been seriously delayed, and who will encounter a negative impact in various ways. For some it will mean they fail to comply with their PR Residency Obligation and will have to rely on H&C relief to keep their status.
It is impossible to scratch the surface enumerating all the ways this pandemic will have a serious negative impact on just new immigrants, let alone the many millions of other Canadians who will take a hit.
It is a sad time. For so many. For many there will be losses that are forever, not just a setback. But that is in part why some of the more narcissistic self-interested demands stand out as so offensive. It is probably a bit melodramatic to play the we-are-all-in-this-together refrain too persistently, but this is about as close as a society gets to being in it together. Feel like you are suffering, look to your left, look to your right, you are far, far from alone.
Best we can do for now is turn to those with expertise and follow their lead, to pull together as best we can, to be pragmatic and resourceful and considerate of others.
There is some hint of light on the horizon now. If we can hold the line awhile longer, that could significantly mitigate the impact, not just in terms of saving lives but in terms of mitigating the damage done on so many fronts, in so many ways. Finding our way clear will not be a cake walk. But it is a trek we must make and the more unified we are, the better it will almost certainly go.
