Bc Scholar With Expired Chinese Passport Says Renewing Could Jeopardize Personal Safety

Guldana Salimjan is a postdoctoral fellow at Simon Fraser University, who also directs the University of British Columbia Xinjiang Documentation Project, a federally funded program documenting the incarceration of ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjiang region. The project has been mentioned during the debates in Parliament. Salimjan has a job lined up at Indiana University in the US — but he doesn’t have papers to cross the Canada-US border. Fearing that renewing her Chinese passport would bring her to the attention of Chinese authorities who disapprove of her work, Salimjan applied for a unique Canadian travel document that could help her. But so far, due to system issues, it hasn’t. The Indiana University Bloomington campus. Guldana Salimjan says she has a job pending at the university, but she doesn’t have papers to cross the Canada-US border. (Visit Bloomington) In February, Salimjan applied for a identity card — a Canadian travel document for refugees, stateless persons and permanent residents who cannot obtain a passport from their country of origin — so she can get a US visa to start working in August and reunite with her husband who also teaches at the University of Indiana. A Kazakh from Xinjiang and a Canadian permanent resident, Salimjan explained in her application that visiting the local consulate to renew her Chinese passport, which expired last year, meant she would have to disclose her personal information to Chinese authorities. She says she fears the Chinese government could use the information to harass her and her family in China, which she has not visited since 2016. “Because of my research … I know it will be extremely difficult for me to renew my Chinese passport,” he said. A containment facility at Artux’s Kunshan Industrial Park in Xinjiang. Guldana Salimjan is concerned that her investigation into China’s internment of Muslim minorities in the region will attract the attention of Chinese authorities, leading to possible harassment of her family in China. (Ng Han Guan/The Associated Press) Salimjan says she was waiting to receive the identity card promised by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) within 20 days of submitting her application. But after making more than 20 inquiries to the federal agency – personally and with the help of local Liberal MP Terry Beech – he has yet to receive the document. “I don’t know when I will be able to get this document, which is really painful,” he said. “I am already separated from my family in Xinjiang, [and] now I’m going to divorce my husband.”

“Often prompts research into the individual”

Last week, Salimjan also submitted a letter of support signed by six professors from SFU and UBC outlining her need for the document on humanitarian grounds, in hopes of expediting the application process. Co-author Darren Byler, an anthropologist at SFU and senior editor of the Xinjiang Documentation Project, says Salimjan’s upcoming work at Indiana University could help expand the project to the United States, but argues that she should not renew her Chinese passport to obtain in America. Bailer cites the experience of other Xinjiang students at North American universities who received return permits from the Chinese embassy to return to China to renew their passports – only to be transferred to detention camps upon arrival. Passengers at the Urumqi Diwopu International Airport in Xinjiang pictured in September 2019. Darren Byler, senior editor of the Xinjiang Documentation Project, notes that many Xinjiang students at North American universities were taken to detention camps when they returned to the Chinese region to renew their their passport. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images) “It is not really possible for her to renew her Chinese passport either through the consulate or through returning to China,” he said. “It makes them quite aware of your presence … it often prompts an inquiry into the person.” Co-signer Helen Leung, chair of SFU’s gender studies department where Salimjan teaches, says the identity card is a necessary document for exiles. She remembers her parents fleeing China for Hong Kong during World War II, who did not have a passport and traveled on an identity card issued by the colonial British government until they became Canadian citizens. “They were stateless, as Guldana is,” Leung said. “I understand the importance of having that document when you are effectively stateless.” On Monday, to Salimjan’s surprise, IRCC emailed her saying that emergency services to issue applicant IDs have been suspended until further notice — a detail Salimjan says she had never seen before on the agency’s website.

“This is not acceptable”

The federal government recently promised to address challenges related to applications for Canadian immigration status and travel documents. Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new federal task force to help address long delays in immigration applications and passport processing, a situation he described as unacceptable. NDP immigration critic and Vancover East MP Jenny Kwan says the Liberal government will also have to deal with what she calls “contradictory” information on the IRCC website, which doesn’t immediately notify applicants like Salimjan that expedites have been suspended applications for identity cards. “This is not acceptable,” Kwan said. NDP MP Jenny Kwan says the Liberal government should address the contradictory information it says on the IRCC website, in addition to delays related to processing travel documents. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press) CBC News contacted IRCC for comment on Monday, which asked Salimjan to sign a consent form allowing the agency to disclose information to the CBC about her application. The signed consent form has been sent to IRCC along with Salimjan’s application tracking number. As of press time, IRCC has yet to comment on her case. Meanwhile, with no solution in sight, Salimjan says she misses her husband. “[It] it breaks my heart to think that my husband lives and works alone in Bloomington.”

title: “Bc Scholar With Expired Chinese Passport Says Renewing Could Jeopardize Personal Safety " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-14” author: “David Caulfield”

Guldana Salimjan is a postdoctoral fellow at Simon Fraser University, who also directs the University of British Columbia Xinjiang Documentation Project, a federally funded program documenting the incarceration of ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjiang region. The project has been mentioned during the debates in Parliament. Salimjan has a job lined up at Indiana University in the US — but he doesn’t have papers to cross the Canada-US border. Fearing that renewing her Chinese passport would bring her to the attention of Chinese authorities who disapprove of her work, Salimjan applied for a unique Canadian travel document that could help her. But so far, due to system issues, it hasn’t. The Indiana University Bloomington campus. Guldana Salimjan says she has a job pending at the university, but she doesn’t have papers to cross the Canada-US border. (Visit Bloomington) In February, Salimjan applied for a identity card — a Canadian travel document for refugees, stateless persons and permanent residents who cannot obtain a passport from their country of origin — so she can get a US visa to start working in August and reunite with her husband who also teaches at the University of Indiana. A Kazakh from Xinjiang and a Canadian permanent resident, Salimjan explained in her application that visiting the local consulate to renew her Chinese passport, which expired last year, meant she would have to disclose her personal information to Chinese authorities. She says she fears the Chinese government could use the information to harass her and her family in China, which she has not visited since 2016. “Because of my research … I know it will be extremely difficult for me to renew my Chinese passport,” he said. A containment facility at Artux’s Kunshan Industrial Park in Xinjiang. Guldana Salimjan is concerned that her investigation into China’s internment of Muslim minorities in the region will attract the attention of Chinese authorities, leading to possible harassment of her family in China. (Ng Han Guan/The Associated Press) Salimjan says she was waiting to receive the identity card promised by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) within 20 days of submitting her application. But after making more than 20 inquiries to the federal agency – personally and with the help of local Liberal MP Terry Beech – he has yet to receive the document. “I don’t know when I will be able to get this document, which is really painful,” he said. “I am already separated from my family in Xinjiang, [and] now I’m going to divorce my husband.”

“Often prompts research into the individual”

Last week, Salimjan also submitted a letter of support signed by six professors from SFU and UBC outlining her need for the document on humanitarian grounds, in hopes of expediting the application process. Co-author Darren Byler, an anthropologist at SFU and senior editor of the Xinjiang Documentation Project, says Salimjan’s upcoming work at Indiana University could help expand the project to the United States, but argues that she should not renew her Chinese passport to obtain in America. Bailer cites the experience of other Xinjiang students at North American universities who received return permits from the Chinese embassy to return to China to renew their passports – only to be transferred to detention camps upon arrival. Passengers at the Urumqi Diwopu International Airport in Xinjiang pictured in September 2019. Darren Byler, senior editor of the Xinjiang Documentation Project, notes that many Xinjiang students at North American universities were taken to detention camps when they returned to the Chinese region to renew their their passport. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images) “It is not really possible for her to renew her Chinese passport either through the consulate or through returning to China,” he said. “It makes them quite aware of your presence … it often prompts an inquiry into the person.” Co-signer Helen Leung, chair of SFU’s gender studies department where Salimjan teaches, says the identity card is a necessary document for exiles. She remembers her parents fleeing China for Hong Kong during World War II, who did not have a passport and traveled on an identity card issued by the colonial British government until they became Canadian citizens. “They were stateless, as Guldana is,” Leung said. “I understand the importance of having that document when you are effectively stateless.” On Monday, to Salimjan’s surprise, IRCC emailed her saying that emergency services to issue applicant IDs have been suspended until further notice — a detail Salimjan says she had never seen before on the agency’s website.

“This is not acceptable”

The federal government recently promised to address challenges related to applications for Canadian immigration status and travel documents. Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new federal task force to help address long delays in immigration applications and passport processing, a situation he described as unacceptable. NDP immigration critic and Vancover East MP Jenny Kwan says the Liberal government will also have to deal with what she calls “contradictory” information on the IRCC website, which doesn’t immediately notify applicants like Salimjan that expedites have been suspended applications for identity cards. “This is not acceptable,” Kwan said. NDP MP Jenny Kwan says the Liberal government should address the contradictory information it says on the IRCC website, in addition to delays related to processing travel documents. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press) CBC News contacted IRCC for comment on Monday, which asked Salimjan to sign a consent form allowing the agency to disclose information to the CBC about her application. The signed consent form has been sent to IRCC along with Salimjan’s application tracking number. As of press time, IRCC has yet to comment on her case. Meanwhile, with no solution in sight, Salimjan says she misses her husband. “[It] it breaks my heart to think that my husband lives and works alone in Bloomington.”