Security clearance delays frustrate Iranians
Immigration applicants say they feel singled out
Ebrahim Karimi is the Canada Research Chair in Structured Light and has led a team of researchers in developing new ways to transmit data in a more secure fashion.
Six years after being on successive work permits as a professor and researcher at the University of Ottawa, the Iranian academic is pondering a move to Germany, where a three-year, $5.4-million research grant is on offer.
He’s looking elsewhere because his future here is unclear: Karimi has been waiting a year for Canada to grant his security clearance. Without it, he is unable to apply for permanent resident status.
“The post-doctoral student from China I supervised got his permanent status in seven months. Here I’m still waiting,” said Karimi, whose current work permit expires in August. “We need to do proper security screening, but not being able to set down roots here is killing other opportunities for me. It is affecting my professional career.”
The 40-year-old is among a growing number of Iranian applicants — many with postgraduate degrees earned in Canada — who say they face unreasonable delays in getting security clearance due to their nationality.
“We feel we are singled out,” said Amin Jafari Sojahrood, 34, who came to Canada from Iran in 2009 for a master’s program in medical physics at Ryerson University. He has been waiting for the results of his security check since July; the average processing time is six months.
Sojahrood said he has been granted 11 American visas to attend academic conferences in the U.S. over the last nine years, including three after President Donald Trump introduced travel bans against those from Iran and other Muslim-dominant countries. He said he has also previously passed three background and criminal checks by Canadian officials for his study and work permits. So, he doesn’t understand why his current security check is taking so long.
According to immigration data, China and Iran make up more than a third of the security screening requests sent to the Canada Border Services Agency, which conducts the checks along with the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
In the first eight months of 2017, almost 11,000 Iranian nationals — 825 permanent residence applicants and the rest for study, work and travel visas — were subject to security checks, just short of the 13,300 for those from China.
“We appreciate the frustration of some applicants of Iranian nationality with the process- ing time of their security screenings, and we are grateful for their patience,” said Jayden Robertson, a border agency spokesperson.
“Security checks are done on a case-by-case basis and their processing time varies depending on several factors,” he noted. “The Government of Canada is committed to a fair and non-discriminatory application of immigration procedures while protecting the safety and security of Canadians.”
While 80 per cent of skilled immigration applications take six months to process under the Express Entry management system, Robertson said the rest take longer depending on how easily information can be verified, how well and how quickly the applicant responds to requests or concerns, and whether an application is complete.
At a meeting in April, the Iranian Canadian Congress told immigration and border enforcement officials that some 300 Iranian applicants, mostly students and recent graduates in Canada, have sought help from the national body over extended delays in their permanent residence applications.
“Public data and self-reported data point to a possible and concerning trend of Iranian applications being targeted and singled out for extra security screening, causing significant delays in the processing of these applications,” the congress said in a report.
Amin Badriahari, 30, applied for permanent residence in September 2015 under the provincial nominee immigration program after he graduated with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Windsor and accumulated the required Canadian work experience. He has yet to get his security clearance.
“I own a house here. I have a well-paid job in Canada and I pay taxes. But when you don’t have permanent status in Canada, everything is a battle,” Badriahari noted.
“We need to do proper security screening, but not being able to set down roots here is killing other opportunities for me.” EBRAHIM KARIMI CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR IN STRUCTURED LIGHT