Please Help! Facing Death Everyday

[athraa.abb]

Hi. I am in desperate need of help and I don't know what to do. I am going to tell my story and please, any kind of help would be appreciated. Any advice, anything anyone could help with, I would appreciate it so much.

I filed a sponsorship for my husband in November 2013. I got the sponsorship approval in December and they have been processing my husband's file ever since. My husband is currently in Iraq (his file is in the embassy in Amman) and he is in the Iraqi military. Things were okay at the time we applied for the sponsorship, we just wanted a better life here in Canada. After filing the sponsorship, I went to Iraq to visit my husband and I got pregnant. I came back to Canada after my visit, I am now 39 weeks pregnant.

But now, my husband is serving on the borders of Baghdad, where there is a lot of terrorist attacks and where there is a group of ISIS. He has been going through attacks between the Iraqi army and ISIS. There is a great change they might be transferring to somewhere even more dangerous than that, to one of the provinces that have been taken over completely by ISIS. My husband is facing death every day and I am always living in fear that he will not make it home for his next leave. He is also living in fear that he will not make it to see his soon to be born son.

I currently live in Canada alone, I have no family here, and I am going to be having my baby soon. I have been living in fear and worry and so so much stress during my pregnancy and it just keeps getting worse and worse. I need my husband to be here with me as soon as possible. I need him to be here with me, to be there for me and for his son, we both need him now.

I don't know what to do. I have tried emailing the embassy quite a few times but there obviously has been no response. What can I do?? There must be something to get us out of this situation...

I have thought of a refugee claim but I am not sure about how that works or if it is even possible for him since he is in the Iraqi military and since we have a sponsorship going. Would he be given refugee status is he claimed refugee or not? Is it even possible to do so with our sponsorship? Is there anything else I can do, anything at all, please help me???

 

[scylla]

No - he can't claim refugee status. This simply isn't possible for him right now. In order to claim refugee status, he would first have to be identified as a refugee by UNHCR and UNHCR would then have to identified him for resettlement in Canada. This isn't a short process and there are a number of requirements he would have to meet which are outlined here (see the Country of Asylum Class):

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/outside/index.asp

 

[athraa.abb]

No - he can't claim refugee status. This simply isn't possible for him right now. In order to claim refugee status, he would first have to be identified as a refugee by UNHCR and UNHCR would then have to identified him for resettlement in Canada. This isn't a short process and there are a number of requirements he would have to meet which are outlined here (see the Country of Asylum Class):

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/outside/index.asp

What if he comes to Canada on a visitor visa and then claims refugee from inside Canada?

 

[scylla]

What if he comes to Canada on a visitor visa and then claims refugee from inside Canada?

That he can do. But I think that would be a bad idea.

If he can get a visitor visa approved and come to Canada, then he should just come in as a tourist and continue to extend his visa and stay in Canada as a visitor until his PR status is approved. I would think that's the better option (again, provided he can get a visitor visa).

 

[athraa.abb]

That he can do. But I think that would be a bad idea.

If he can get a visitor visa approved and come to Canada, then he should just come in as a tourist and continue to extend his visa and stay in Canada as a visitor until his PR status is approved. I would think that's the better option (again, provided he can get a visitor visa).

We thought of that also but we're worried that he won't be able to get an extension. The processing time for files in Amman now are 24 months and it has only been nine months for us. If he gets a visitor visa now and extends a second time (if he can even extend a second time), that's still not a full 24 months and there's a very little chance that he will be approved before 24 months. Also, he cannot work here on a visitor visa, correct? I am not able to work now either as I am going to have a baby so it might be a little hard for us if he's here without a job.

If he comes here on visitor visa and then isn't given an extension and he has to go back, he will have lost his job, which isn't so bad if it were easy for him to find another job back in Iraq when he goes back. He hasn't completed high school, which makes things even more difficult... The only thing keeping him in the army right now is for the income (because there is nothing else he can do), but if he comes here he wants to have an income here right away also so that we will be able to make a living.

I am really lost, I don't know what to do.

 

[mikeymyke]

In addition to that, he would have a hard time being approved for a visitor visa to begin with. Many people are refused due to a country's instability. And given your husband's role in the military, ISIS, and now he wants to visit a pregnant wife, it would seem highly unlikely he will return to Iraq.

 

[taffy7]

My concern here is that he is in the Military if he comes here on a visitors visa what will happen to him if he don't go back .I am dual citizen of Canada and the U.k.If a war broke out and i am in one of those countries i have to stay and fight for that country if civilians were called up. I hope the OP has many good friends who can stand by here while she waits out this process.

 

[athraa.abb]

In addition to that, he would have a hard time being approved for a visitor visa to begin with. Many people are refused due to a country's instability. And given your husband's role in the military, ISIS, and now he wants to visit a pregnant wife, it would seem highly unlikely he will return to Iraq.

Yes, exactly. So what can I do?

 

[athraa.abb]

My concern here is that he is in the Military if he comes here on a visitors visa what will happen to him if he don't go back .I am dual citizen of Canada and the U.k.If a war broke out and i am in one of those countries i have to stay and fight for that country if civilians were called up. I hope the OP has many good friends who can stand by here while she waits out this process.

I don't have anybody here. No friends or family and that is why I'm so desperate for my husband to be here with me.

 

[taffy7]

I don't have anybody here. No friends or family and that is why I'm so desperate for my husband to be here with me.

I'm so sorry to hear that .

 

[athraa.abb]

I'm so sorry to hear that .

Is there anything you can advise me to do?

 

[scylla]

Is there anything you can advise me to do?

Can he get out of the military and get a job somewhere else? Maybe move to a much safer part of Iraq like Erbil?

 

[mikeymyke]

Is there anyway he can quit the military? He can then just do some simple jobs until he gets approved.

Since you applied almost a year ago, then that means your sponsorship file should be nearing the end, so as hard as it seems, you should try to be patient and wait until he gets approved.

 

[athraa.abb]

Can he get out of the military and get a job somewhere else? Maybe move to a much safer part of Iraq like Erbil?

That's our problem, he isn't going to be able to get a job anywhere because he was never able to finish high school (also because of conditions in Iraq at the time he was in school). His home province is pretty safe, it isn't too bad. Our only problem is when he is working, his military place is not safe. His family and I are always worried he won't make it home safe. There is no way he can change the place where he works.

 

[athraa.abb]

Is there anyway he can quit the military? He can then just do some simple jobs until he gets approved.

Since you applied almost a year ago, then that means your sponsorship file should be nearing the end, so as hard as it seems, you should try to be patient and wait until he gets approved.

The processing time for Amman where our file is is 24 months and it keeps going up... When we started it was 21 months, not it's 24. It has only been nine months for us now, so not even halfway there...

And he can quit the military, but he will have no job after that. Not even simple jobs are available because everyone there is going through such difficult times because of all that is happening there.