Undocumented children at risk due to unviable immigration wait times, lawyers warn

Undocumented youth in Canada say they’re feeling worried and hopeless as they face decades-long processing times for permanent residence under the humanitarian and compassionate pathway — often the only immigration stream open to them.

Lawyers and advocates say they fear more vulnerable minors will lose their legal immigration status in the coming years and will be forced underground, leaving them unable to legally work, study at many post-secondary institutions or access medical care. They could even face removal from Canada.

People can become undocumented when their temporary status lapses. That can happen if they fail to qualify for another status, if their application is denied, or during long waits for their application to be processed, according to Ottawa immigration lawyer Heather Neufeld.

In October, processing times stretched to decades for some immigration streams including the humanitarian permanent residence (PR) pathway, a program that accepts applications based on special considerations such as hardship or the best interests of children.

For those children, the danger is amplified, Neufeld said.

"They face the risk of being deported before their humanitarian application is ever decided," she said. "They risk being removed from perhaps the only country they've ever known, the only country they've ever called home."

Meanwhile, annual admission targets have been slashed at a rate lawyers say are unprecedented. 

"This humanitarian stream was not broken," Neufeld said. "This is something that the Liberals have broken all of a sudden at this particular moment by deciding [to reduce it] … to a teeny, tiny number per year — unlike anything we've ever seen."

Estimates in the spring showed 55,074 applications in the queue under the humanitarian stream.

Next year, Canada aims to accept 1,100 applicants under the humanitarian program, followed by 1,000 in 2027 and 1,000 more in 2028, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) latest plan.

"This is my home," said Anna, a high school student in Kingston, Ont., who’s currently undocumented.

Anna is not her real name, and CBC is protecting her identity because she's a vulnerable minor who's at risk of deportation.

She came to Canada as a toddler, but now the 17-year-old lives apart from her family after those relationships broke down.

"It's very stressful, like, not knowing that you could just be uprooted at any point," Anna said.