Ukrainians worry as their three-year emergency visas are set to expire

OTTAWA — Many of the 300,000 Ukrainians who have come to Canada on three-year emergency visas since 2022 face an uncertain future as their temporary resident permits come closer to expiring, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress warned Wednesday.

Congress executive director Ihor Michalchyshyn said he met with Immigration Minister Marc Miller last week to ask his department to automatically renew the visas for another three years.

“We have invited them to flee the war zone here. They’re working here now. We think they deserve a clear extension of the invitation from Canada to not cause them problems with their employers, problems with their health care,” he said.

But Michalchyshyn said Miller showed no sign of openness to the idea. The minister’s office confirmed that a systematic renewal is not being considered.

Last Friday, the minister told reporters Ukrainians must apply for an extension to a working permit or a student visa in order to stay longer as temporary residents.

“I am not sending them back to Ukraine as long as the war continues. We renew work permits and permits to stay so there is nothing to fear, but you have to make an application,” he said in French.

According to his department, about 106,000 “temporary resident documents … are expiring in 2025.”

Most of those affected are among the Ukrainians who fled to Canada under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel program, launched by the federal government weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Ukrainians were accepted under the program until July 2023.

Michalchyshyn said “this group of Ukrainians in Canada is in a very precarious temporary status” and they should not have to go through an application process.

”I hear all the time that the ability to get answers from that department is less and less because there are big staffing shortages and people are just not able to get information about their situation,” he said.

He said some people may not even know they have to apply and will miss the deadline.

Miller’s office said in a media statement that the 106,000 Ukrainians will have 90 days after the deadline has passed ”to apply for restoration of temporary resident status.”

The statement said those whose applications are refused ”may qualify” to work under a ”non status working permit” because of a directive that prevents the Canada Border Services Agency from deporting Ukrainians currently.

It is not clear how long that directive will last but Miller’s office said it will not be lifted until ”the situation in their country or region stabilizes.”

”However, those who are not allowed in Canada for security reasons or on grounds of criminality, international or human rights violations, or organized crime can still be removed despite the (directive),” says the department’s statement.

In a letter sent to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador said it supports their request for an automatic extension of the expired emergency visas until March 31, 2028.

Last Friday, Miller also pointed out that Ukrainians can become permanent residents under the family reunification program. Applications could be submitted from October 2023 to October 2024 by extended family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, such as grandparents.

The department said as of the end of December, approximately 23,000 applications have been received under that program, with 367 processed, 341 approved and 26 denied.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada also said that, as of last December, approximately 21,000 applicants to other streams of access to permanent residency were Ukrainians with three-year emergency visas.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2025.

Émilie Bergeron, The Canadian Press