Anna Weksej for New Canadian Media writes, “July 2020 marked a year since Rida Khan submitted a spousal sponsorship application so that she could live together with her husband Abdul Wasay Khan in Calgary. According to information on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website, spousal sponsorship applications usually take around 12 months to process. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the processing times have lengthened indefinitely, leaving many applicants stuck in limbo — with no information as to when they may be reunited with their families.
“The last update we got was in March,” said Khan. “Our application has been stuck at the London office for about five months now and we haven’t heard anything at all since then.” This lack of information, combined with the uncertainty and stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, has had a big impact on the mental health of many applicants.”