Red Tape Frustration

When I bump into friends and acquaintances who ask if Douglas is back yet they're surprised to hear that he is still awaiting his Canadian Residency papers in El Salvador. It's now been about 15 months since Douglas left for El Salvador and we re-submitted his Immigration papers for Spousal Sponsorship.  Every step in this  process has been like pulling teeth from a lion.  Douglas got a major run-around when trying to obtain a fingerprint screen/criminal check in El Salvador (you would think he was the first person to ever request this!), but Canada is no better.

The Immigration office that we have to deal with is the one located in Guatemala City.  On numerous occasions I have emailed them, faxed them, and sent letters via snail mail to check on the progress of the application.  I have never got a response from them. We have only ever heard from Guat Immigration office ONCE in the past 15 months.  The only reason I even know that they sent a letter to him in El Salvador was because, periodically,  I have our Member of Parliament get in touch with the Guat office to check on the status of things.  In February, they apparently mailed a letter to him (which he never received) asking him for a page full of various documents etc in order to proceed.  Some of these things were police clearances. 

I had to obtain a local police check for him - five officers, many visits/ phone calls to the station and many weeks later - finally obtained the piece of paper to say that he was "all clear".  What was the big problem? Well, it seems that it was against protocol to search the database and release a form saying "No criminal record" unless the person (Douglas) was actually physically in front of them.  I explained over and over that I didn't even need to see the form, I just needed them to do the check and mail it to the Immigration dept in Guatemala.  I submitted all sorts of documents from Immigration Canada showing proof that he had left the country as part of this whole saga, provided four different forms of ID copies NOTARIZED by the Canadian Embassy in San Salvador, his fingerprint form notarized by a Salvavadoran police station - I was still coming up against a brick wall. So, short of cutting his fingertips off and having them mailed back to Canada, I had done everything I could.  I think in the end, they got tired of me harrassing them - finally the day came that I was able to cross this off my "to do" list - they released the police check. YAY!!

Next step was the RCMP check for all of Canada. Acccording to the website, processing times are "in excess of 140 days".  I sent our original fingerprint form from El Salvador via registered mail over 3 months ago, so got in touch with them via phone message and email to make sure they have the file and are working on it.  After numerous emails, I finally received a response that went like this: "No, we can't locate his file, but it doesn't mean we don't have it."  Ya, I know, sort of unbelievable for a government organization - but wait, no maybe it is believable.  I kept persisting, explaining that with each month that passes, it is another month that we are not together as a family.  I have received three emails in total from them, all of the same template, all saying the same thing.  I have left numerous voicemail messages as well.  Finally received a call three weeks ago from an RCMP officer who confirmed that they had the file and I should receive the documents in about a week.  Then two days ago, I recieved another response from them via email (from an email I sent weeks ago) saying the same thing - "no, can't find it, doesn't mean we don't have it though."  So, which is it?  As I have not received the documents, again, I have started emailing and leaving voicemail messages demanding that they just clear this up and confirm once and for all if they have the documents.  I would hate to think that we have just wasted three months on this and have to start over again, but I would rather not waste ANOTHER three months waiting to find out.  So, with regards to Douglas' Immigration status - he is "approved in principal" and we are in a holding pattern tied up in red tape. For how long is the big question.