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 mom to take a break and see her two children and grandchildren in Ottawa after being the primary caregiver for her ailing husband for years. “[We thought] he should come and relax and take it easy and, you know, grieve and be with us,” Clark said. “[I’m] just begging someone to take pity on us and do something about her case because it’s been too long. It’s just a visitor visa.’ Victoria Clarke and her late husband Malcolm Clarke at his 80th birthday party. That was the last time he could dance without help, says his daughter Charlotte Clarke. (Submitted by Charlotte Clarke) The family last heard from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) — which processes immigration applications and visas — in December 2020, after her mother traveled to neighboring Senegal to submit biometric information, such 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 the IRCC website on Tuesday, the average waiting time for Gambian visitor visa processing is 43 days. From left to right, Adetunde Celine Joseph, Charlotte Clarke and Geneva Clarke. Charlotte Clarke holds a photo of her mum, Victoria Clarke. (Jean Delisle/CBC) “I just, you know, feel helpless, feel guilty, you know, that you’re not doing enough — that you can’t do anything,” said Clark, who has exhausted her efforts. With no answers from IRCC, Clarke contacted her MP Marie-France Lalonde several times. Through briefings from Lalonde’s office, Clarke heard various reasons for the delay from IRCC – ranging from COVID-19 to how she may have applied for a super visa. Super visas allow parents or grandparents to stay for up to two years, but take longer to process — 152 days on average from The Gambia, according to IRCC. According to an internal government memo obtained through access to information legislation, Victoria Clarke’s application is categorized as a regular temporary resident visa and not a super visa. “It’s taken a toll on all of us. On her, especially, she’s been waiting for it to come. Sometimes she’s confused about whether it’s going to come,” Clarke said. WATCHES | Family wonders why it takes almost 2 years for a visitor visa:
Visitor visa delay ‘frustrating’ for Ottawa family
Charlotte Clarke, who lives in Ottawa, says the nearly two-year wait to get a visitor visa for her mother has been frustrating, especially without the ability to get answers or updates. Via a WhatsApp video chat, Victoria Clarke greeted her only two grandchildren and daughter at the kitchen table in their Orléans home. “Two years is a long time,” said Victoria Clarke, from The Gambia. “But these days, I tell myself, I’m near the grave, so there’s no point in getting mad at people over the little things.” Victoria Clarke spoke 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. In this photo from 2022 she is holding her great-grandmother. (Submitted by Charlotte Clarke) She hopes for the best, but wishes for her vacation in Ottawa soon. “If it is in their power to grant me a visa, I would very much like to have it.” WATCHES | Delay takes its toll, grandmother shares via video call:
Grandma is still waiting for a visitor visa almost two years after applying
Victoria Clarke, 78, says she would love to visit Canada and be with her children and grandchildren, but it’s impossible without her visitor visa, which she’s been waiting almost two years for.
Lawyer sees rapid change for visas
“I’ve never heard of people waiting two years for a visitor visa,” said Tamar Boghossian, an Ottawa immigration lawyer with Boghossian Morais LLP. Most of the company’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’ve seen a very positive turnover rate in our office,” said Boghossian. Victoria Clarke, not pictured here but on video chat on the phone, greets her two grandchildren. (Jean Delisle/CBC) He explained how various factors can affect processing times and how each application is processed on a case-by-case basis. They may take longer due to factors such as the applicant’s background, place of residence, location of the main visa office, criminality and whether they have been rejected in the past. “It’s very casual,” Boghossian explained. However, it has seen some applicants “fall through the cracks” due to delays during the pandemic. “In this particular case, what it sounds like is this [Clarke has] maybe he fell on the steps because he 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 Clarke submitted her mother’s application. Charlotte Clarke chats with her mom Victoria Clarke, 78. The daughter says she’s surprised the federal government would say she can reapply for a visa. (Jean Delisle/CBC) Charlotte Clark wonders why her mother has to wait almost two years for a visa that others get in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile, she plans to buy a ticket to Gambia at the end of this month to keep her mom company. “I just want to plead with them [at IRCC]. We just want him to come and visit her. That’s it,” he said.
IRCC says to reapply
In an email response to CBC News, Canada’s immigration department told Clarke to reapply for the visitor visa. “Applicants who applied for a visitor visa prior to September 7, 2021 and who have not been contacted by IRCC with instructions on next steps after application are allowed to re-apply,” wrote one IRCC representative. “Mrs Clarke’s application would fall into that category.” IRCC said it recognized “that timely decisions are essential” on visa applications, but would not comment further on why Victoria Clarke’s visa has not been processed after 21 months. Charlotte Clarke told the CBC she’s “surprised” by that response, questions whether the family will have to pay the $100 fee again to reapply, and wonders if they’ll have to wait just as long. “I’m really, really devastated at the thought of having to start all over again,” she wrote about helping her mom reapply. “Going back to square one is infuriating.”
