Canada announced the temporary resident visa program for family members of citizens and permanent residents who are trapped in Gaza in January. Ten months later, more than 40 human rights organizations signed a letter asking the federal government to reform the program.

Saadiya Joha says she has lost more than 200 members of her extended family in Gaza since the war began. And she says she is still waiting to receive unique codes for seven of her 10 loved ones to apply for temporary visas to be accepted.

“How do I respond when I can’t guarantee their safety or give them the help they so desperately need?” she asked.

To apply for a temporary visa, a family member in Canada must first provide a list of relatives’ names and dates of birth. They are then assigned a unique code for each name submitted, which is when they can begin the application process.

It requires extensive background information, including a full work history, details of social media accounts and proof of physical scars.

“We successfully collected all the information, but in August (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) rejected the documentation requesting a death certificate, which is almost impossible in Gaza,” explains Nariman Ajjur, another Palestinian-Canadian with trapped family in Gaza.

Some Palestinians who escaped Gaza and are now trapped in other countries are unable to apply through the program — and are instead trying to get a tourist visa.

Randall Cohn is an immigration lawyer in Vancouver, he has clients who are trying to apply for a temporary visa for their family members.

Cohn says the “level of detail and documentation” is unlike anything he’s seen before.

“Those who diligently filled out this paperwork, often sorting through the debris and sending images back to their families in Canada during the rare moments of access to communications networks, receive the same email that all Canadian visa applicants receive, instructing them to attend a biometrics appointment for collection. from their pictures,” he said.

Cohn goes on to explain that “the closest visa processing center is in Cairo.”

Visa process for other refugees

The program was announced in January with the promise of issuing visas to 1,000 people from Gaza.

CTV News reached out to Canada’s immigration minister for an update on how many visas have been issued and how many people have applied, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Canada allowed an unlimited number of Ukrainians to escape the war and live in Canada for up to three years.

“Canada has now approved more than 960,000 applications for temporary residents from Ukraine, and just under 300,000 live, work and go to school here,” says Cohn.

Cohn says he personally reviewed the applications for “invasive” details of the application, such as “whether they ever provided medical care to members of Hamas” if the applicant was a doctor or nurse in Gaza.

He adds that the government must be held accountable for the “unthinkable delays” that are costing the lives of relatives of Canadian Palestinian families.

The federal government says it continues to submit the names of applicants to local Israeli officials, but does not ultimately decide who can leave Gaza.