Such a Complicated Canadian Immigration Process
About 6 weeks ago, I applied for extension of my working permit in Canada. The reason is because my current working permit will be expired in the next 2 months. Besides that, I have to go back to my home country for my wedding. I thought it would be better to apply for an extension 4 months in advance.
Yesterday, I received my new working permit. Great! I can work in Canada until 2009. But… wait a second. There is a sentence written in a big font on my working permit. "This does not authorize re-entry". What the h*** is that? I can work in Canada, but I cannot go out and then re-enter Canada?
This morning, I called CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canadian) to clarify it. They said that working permit authorize me to stay in Canada until 2009. However, I cannot go out from Canada and then re-enter Canada during that time frame. If I want to do that, I have to apply for TRV (Temporary Resident Visa).
Ok, that’s fine for me. I thought it should be a bunch of forms to fill out (not again… :(). Then I ask the person on the line, how can I apply for TRV from within Canada? She put me on hold for a couple of minutes. Perhaps she is trying to find out more information.
A couple of minutes later, she came back to me. She said I have to apply TRV from my home country or from the US.
There is no immigration office in Canada that issue TRV. Oh my God… what is the logic behind this???
Well, I think this is my worst experience with immigration process. When I worked in Germany, they issued working permit within 5 days and resident visa within 10 minutes. For the extension, I just need to come to an office and get a new stamp in my passport (also in 10 minutes). When I worked in Singapore, they issued working permit within 3 weeks and resident visa within 1 day. I just need to go to Ministry of Man-power (MOM) office.
Can’t CIC make immigration process easier and faster? There should be something they can do to speed up the process.
Another thing I would like to point out. Currently I have a PR (Permanent esidence) application in Canada. It has been processed for 1 year and 4 months. And still… I still don’t have Canadian PR until today. My friend told me 1 - 2 years is quite normal for PR processing.
I hope someone from CIC read this and do something to make the process faster. I don’t know why they need 6 weeks (only) to extend my working permit.
