America
Indian-origin couple's son refused entry into Canada
Toronto, Feb 5
A three-and-half-year-old
Indian boy has been refused reunion with his parents -- living in Canada
as permanent residents for about two years -- because of a human error
and apparently inflexible governmental reading of immigration
regulations, a media report said Thursday.
Bhavna Bajaj and Aman
Sood's troubles with Canada's immigration department started when they
acted on poor advice from an immigration consultant and failed to fill
in the proper paperwork for their son Daksh before migrating to Canada
as skilled workers in 2013, the Ottawa Citizen news website reported.
The
Indian-origin couple intended to apply to sponsor their child once they
arrived in Canada, but they got a horrible surprise when they were
threatened with immediate deportation unless they signed a document that
they would never attempt to sponsor him for permanent residency. They
signed the document in haste and confusion, the report said.
Daksh
continues to live with his paternal grandparents in India, and the
couple's request to the immigration department to allow the boy into
Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was met with refusal.
The
report said "the department doesn’t seem to know what it is talking
about", as an email this week from the immigration department's case
management branch expressed its inability to help the couple saying the
matter was pending before the Federal Court.
"But the case is
not before the court anymore. The court rejected a request to review it
on Dec 13, without explanation," it added.
To garner support for
the Ottawa-based family and help sway authorities into action, an online
petition has been started on change.org, which has so far received more
than 6,000 signatures from well-wishers.