Nurse says immigration rules hinder health care recruitment after permanent residence application rejected

A nurse in Winnipeg says Canada’s immigration system is cutting back on efforts to address the shortage of health-care workers after her application for permanent residence was rejected on technical grounds.

Matt Ushakov said he was shocked when he received a letter last month saying his application was rejected because he did not list his job duties, and therefore provided “insufficient evidence” that he had worked as a nurse.

A letter from Shared Health, Manitoba’s provincial health agency, included as part of Ushakov’s application package says he was hired at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg in January 2024, and is a permanent employee. The letter stated that her job title was “Registered Nurse.”

His rejection from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said his application contained “insufficient evidence” of his job duties.

“I think for a lot of people, there’s no confusion when it comes to what a registered nurse does on a hospital campus,” said Ushakov, 25.

“AAs far as immigration services go, it looks like they’re looking for a detailed description of what we do.”

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Ushakov is originally from Russia, but went to high school in British Columbia and studied nursing at the University of Manitoba.

His work permit is set to expire in October. He said he plans to apply for a second permit so he can stay in Canada long enough to reapply for permanent residence – a process that could take several months and for which he will have to pay a fee.

The current fee to process a permanent residence application alone is $950.

“If instead of outright denying my application, the officer had requested additional documents… I probably would have received my permanent residence by now,” Ushakov said.

“Instead, I have to go through all these difficulties. And it’s very stressful.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in a statement that Ushakov’s application was rejected because “the review officer was not satisfied that he met the skilled work experience requirement for the type of application he made”.

The statement from Jeffrey Macdonald, communications adviser at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said department officials “evaluate each application based on the program’s requirements” and the criteria set out in legislation.

The statement said a request to reconsider Ushakov’s application was received earlier this month and is pending review.

But Ushakov said the appeals process is slow and only a few cases are successful.

Ushakov said, “My lawyers mentioned that I would probably be one of the luckiest people on the planet.”

Nurse says system needs to be made more clear

Ushakov applied for permanent residence through a express entry invitation. The point-based draw system prioritizes candidates based on the country’s labor needs, and health care workers are one of the targeted categories.

FlowM. Behboudinejad, an Iranian nurse who also worked at St. Boniface, who met Ushakov in high school, said that after hearing about Ushakov’s experience she was worried that her own application would be rejected.Hence

“For me everything is the same as Matt… documents, work experience, education,” Behboodinejad Said. He is currently working with the hospital to make sure it provides enough information for his application.

“I wish the system was more clear about what they want” in the application documents, Behboudinejad said, adding that many of his friends are in a similar situation.

The University of Manitoba’s College of Nursing had 174 international students enrolled last fall, out of a total of 966 students. Enrollment Report.

In 2020, just under 10 percent of students in the College of Nursing were international students. By last fall, it had risen to about 18 percent.

“In addition to international nursing students, we have many internationally educated nurses who have come to Canada and Manitoba and want to work here,” said Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union.

He said the union is aware of Ushakov’s situation and has asked the province to look into it.

“This nurse said, ‘This is where I want to live. I love this country and I want to live here,'” Jackson said.

“So it’s very worrying that this has happened… “We are in desperate need of nurses.”

Decision ‘absurd’: immigration lawyer

Ushakov fears that if he does not get permanent residency, he could be forced to return to Russia, which has been waging a war in Ukraine for years that he believes is unjust.

“It adds a degree of existential dread for me, because I moved to Canada to escape Russia,” Ushakov said.

He said, “If I go back I will be admitted.” “I’ll refuse to fight, and go to jail.”

maureen silkofA partner at Toronto-based immigration law firm Silkoff Schacter said it is “absurd” to deny permanent residence applications based on a “fairly superficial reason”, but that is how the system is currently set up to work.

TeaThe options available to applicants who are rejected — asking Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to reconsider, taking the case to court, or resubmitting — are time-consuming and a waste of resources in a system that is already struggling with backlogs, Silkoff said.

“What would make more sense would be to (the federal government) give someone the opportunity to make amends by providing the correct evidence,” he said.

Last year, Silkoff and co-counsel Sujit Chaudhary filed a legal challenge Expand the right to lawyers for immigrants and refugeesWhich also includes applications for permanent residence. They The proceedings are “high-risk” cases that can be life-changing and clearly require legal advice, he said.

Speaking directly to Ushakov’s situation, Silkoff said, “There is no point in making a negative decision in these circumstances.” “It doesn’t really serve any useful purpose.”