After waiting almost two years for her mother’s Canadian visitor visa, an Ottawa woman is questioning why her application fell through the cracks and is asking Canada’s immigration department to speed up the process.
Charlotte Clarke helped her 78-year-old mother Victoria Clarke apply for a visit from The Gambia to West Africa in October 2020. Charlotte’s father and Victoria’s husband Malcolm died of COVID-19 in August of that year.
The daughter said she wanted her mother to take time off and see her two children and grandchildren in Ottawa after years of being the primary caregiver for her ailing husband.
“[We thought] she needs to come and just relax and kind of take it easy and, you know, grieve and be with us,” Clark said.
“[I’m] i just pray that someone will take pity on us and do something about her case because it’s been too long. It’s just a visit visa.”
Victoria Clarke and her late husband Malcolm Clarke at his 80th birthday party. It was the last time he could dance alone, says his daughter Charlotte Clarke. (Submitted by Charlotte Clarke)
The family last heard from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) — which processes immigration and visa applications — in December 2020 after her mother traveled to neighboring Senegal to submit biometric information, as fingerprints.
Twenty-one months later, she is still waiting for the temporary visa that will allow her to visit Ottawa for a few months.
According to IRCC’s website on Tuesday, the average wait time for visa processing for a Gambian visitor is 43 days.
From left to right, Adetunde Celine Joseph, Charlotte Clarke and Geneva Clarke. Charlotte Clarke holds a photo of her mother Victoria Clarke. (Jean Delil/CBC)
“I just, you know, I feel helpless, I feel guilty, you know, that you’re not doing enough — that you can’t do anything,” said an exhausted Clark.
With no answers from IRCC, Clark reached out several times to his MP, Marie-France Lalonde. Through updates from Lalonde’s office, Clark has heard various reasons for the delay from IRCC — ranging from COVID-19 to how she may have applied for a super visa instead.
Supervisions allow parents or grandparents to stay for up to two years, but processing takes longer — an average of 152 days from The Gambia, according to IRCC.
According to an internal government memo obtained through access to information laws, Victoria Clarke’s application is categorized as a regular temporary resident visa, not a super visa.
“It affected all of us. Especially her, she was waiting to come. Sometimes she’s confused about whether she’s going to come,” Clark said.
WATCH | Family wonders why it’s taking almost 2 years for a visitor visa:
A delay in the visitor visa process is “frustrating” for an Ottawa family
Charlotte Clark, who lives in Ottawa, says waiting nearly two years to get a visitor visa for her mother has been frustrating, especially with no way to get answers or updates.
Via WhatsApp video chat, Victoria Clark greeted her only two grandchildren and a daughter at the kitchen table in their Orleans home.
“Two years is an awful lot of time,” said Victoria Clark of The Gambia. “But these days, I tell myself, I’m close to the grave, so there’s no point in getting mad at people over the little things.”
Victoria Clark talks about being an educator who founded a private school in The Gambia in 1998, which she still helps run today.
Victoria Clarke founded and runs a private school in The Gambia. She holds her great-granddaughter in this 2022 photo (Submitted by Charlotte Clarke)
She hopes for the best, but wishes for a recent vacation in Ottawa.
“If it is in their power to grant me a visa, I will be glad to have it.
WATCH | The delay takes its toll, the grandmother shares in a video call:
Grandma is still waiting for a visitor visa almost two years after applying
Victoria Clark, 78, says she would like to visit Canada and be with her children and grandchildren, but that is impossible without her visitor visa, which has been waiting for almost two years.
Lawyer sees quick turnaround for visas
“I’ve never heard of people waiting two years for a visitor visa,” said Tamar Boghossian, an Ottawa immigration lawyer at Boghossian Morais LLP.
Most of the firm’s clients recently received their visas within weeks, and in some cases within a week, when the estimated processing time for them was 150 days on the IRCC website.
“Overall, we see a very positive turnover rate in our office,” Boghosian said.
Victoria Clarke, not pictured here but in a video chat on the phone, greets her two grandchildren. (Jean Delil/CBC)
She explained how a number of factors can affect processing times and how each application is processed on a case-by-case basis. They can take longer due to factors such as the applicant’s origin, location of residence, location of their main visa office, criminal record and whether they have been refused before.
“It’s very circumstantial,” explained Boghosyan.
However, she has seen some applicants “fall through the cracks” due to falling behind during the pandemic.
“In this particular case, it sounds like this [Clarke has] maybe she fell through the cracks because she applied 20 months ago.”
One woman CBC Ottawa spoke to said it took her parents less than a month to get their visitor visas from South Africa. They applied in October 2021, a year after Clark submitted her mother’s application.
Charlotte Clark talks to her mother Victoria Clark, 78. The daughter says she is shocked the federal government will say she can reapply for a visa. (Jean Delil/CBC)
Charlotte Clark wonders why her mother has been left waiting almost two years for a visa that others receive in weeks. In the meantime, she plans to buy a ticket to Gambia later this month to keep her mother company.
“I just want to ask them [at IRCC]. We just want her to come and visit us. This is it,” she said.
IRCC says to reapply
In an email response to CBC News, Canada’s immigration department told Clark to reapply for a visitor visa.
“Applicants who applied for a visitor visa before September 7, 2021 and who have not been contacted by IRCC with next-step instructions after applying have the option to submit a new visa application,” an IRCC spokesperson wrote.
“Mrs Clarke’s request would fall into that category.”
IRCC said it recognized that “timely decisions are essential” on visa applications, but did not comment further on why Victoria Clarke’s visa had not been processed after 21 months.
Charlotte Clarke told the CBC she was “stunned” by the response, asked if the family would have to pay the $100 fee again to reapply, and wondered if they would have to wait just as long.
“I’m really quite devastated at the thought of having to start all over again,” she wrote to help her mother reapply. “Back to Square 1 is maddening.”
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