Immigration rules hamper health-care recruitment, nurse says after permanent residency application rejected

A nurse in Winnipeg says Canada’s immigration system is undercutting efforts to address a shortage of health-care workers, after his application for permanent residency was rejected based on a technicality.

Matt Ushakov said he was shocked when he got a letter last month saying his application had been refused because he didn’t list his job duties, and therefore provided “insufficient evidence” he worked as a nurse.

A letter from Shared Health, Manitoba’s provincial health agency, included as part of Ushakov’s application package states he was hired at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg in January 2024, and is a permanent employee. The letter said his job title was “registered nurse.”

His rejection from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said there was “insufficient evidence” of his job duties in his application.

“I think for a lot of people, there is no confusion when it comes to what a registered nurse does within hospital grounds,” said Ushakov, 25.

“As far as the immigration services, it looks like they’re looking for a detailed description of what we do.”

Ushakov is originally from Russia, but went to high school in British Columbia and studied nursing at the University of Manitoba.

His work permit is set to expire in October. He said his plan is to apply for another permit so he can stay in Canada long enough to reapply for permanent residency — a process that can take several months and for which he would have to pay fees.

The current fee to process a permanent residency application alone is $950.

“If instead of refusing my application outright, the officer would have just requested additional documents … by now, I would have probably had my permanent residency,” Ushakov said.

“Instead, I have to go through all these hoops. And it’s very stressful.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in a statement Ushakov’s application was rejected because “the reviewing officer was not satisfied they met the skilled work experience requirement” for the type of application he made.

Officers with the department “assess each application on a case-by-case basis against program requirements” and criteria set out in legislation, the statement from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada communications adviser Jeffrey MacDonald said.

A request to reconsider Ushakov’s application was received earlier this month and a review is pending, the statement said.

But Ushakov said the appeal process is slow, and few cases are successful.

“My lawyers mentioned that I’d be probably one of the luckiest people on the planet to get it through,” Ushakov said.

System needs to be clearer, nurse says

Ushakov applied for permanent residency through an express entry invitation. The point-based draw system prioritizes candidates based on the country’s labour needs, and health-care workers are one of the targeted categories.

Behnam Behboodinejad, an Iranian nurse also working at St. Boniface who met Ushakov in high school, said he was concerned his own application would be rejected after he heard about Ushakov’s experience.

“Everything is the same for me as Matt … documents, work experience, education,” Behboodinejad said. He’s currently working with the hospital to ensure it provides enough information for his application.

“I wish the system was a lot more clear about what they want” in application documents, Behboodinejad said, adding he has many friends in the same situation.

The University of Manitoba’s college of nursing had 174 international students enrolled as of last fall, among a total 966 students, according to enrolment reports.

In 2020, just under 10 per cent of students in the nursing college were international students. By last fall, that had grown to about 18 per cent.

In addition to international nursing students, “we have a lot of internationally educated nurses who have come into Canada and into Manitoba and want to work here,” said Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson.

She said the union is aware of Ushakov’s situation and has asked the province to look into it.

“This nurse said, ‘this is where I want to live. I love this country and I want to be here,'” said Jackson.

“So it’s very concerning that this has happened.… We need nurses desperately.”

Decision ‘absurd’: immigration lawyer

Ushakov fears that if he can’t get permanent residency, he may be forced to go back to Russia, which for years has been fighting a war in Ukraine he believes is unjust.

That “adds a degree of existential dread for me, because I moved to Canada to kind of escape Russia,” said Ushakov.

“If I go back, I’ll be conscripted,” he said. “I will refuse to … fight, and I will go to jail.”

Maureen Silcoff, a partner at the Toronto-based immigration law firm Silcoff Shacter, said it’s “absurd” to reject permanent residency applications based on a “fairly superficial reason,” but that’s how the system is currently set to work.

The options available for applicants who are rejected — asking Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to reconsider, taking the matter to court, or resubmitting — are time-consuming and a waste of resources in a system that already struggles with backlogs, said Silcoff.

“What would make more sense is that [the federal government] gives someone the opportunity to make a correction to provide the right evidence,” she said.

Last year, Silcoff filed a legal challenge seeking to expand the right to lawyers for immigrants and refugees, including in applications for permanent residence. Those proceedings are “high-stake” matters that can change lives and clearly require legal counsel, she said.

“There’s no point to have negative decisions in these circumstances,” Silcoff said, speaking directly to Ushakov’s situation. “It really serves no useful purpose.”