Federal Government Gives Temporary and Permanent Residents in Alberta a Break due to Flooding

10-07-2013

In light of the flooding disaster that recently affected Southern Alberta, aid and assistance has been flowing to residents in many forms. As a result, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will be taking some pressure off of temporary and permanent residents in the area.

Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism announced on July 2nd that the government sympathizes with newcomers in this situation, and will therefore be waiving fees and extending or restoring the status for temporary and permanent residents in the affected area.

Temporary and permanent residents need to apply for urgent immigration documents, extend their Canadian work or study permits, or replace destroyed immigration documents due to the flood. For these reasons, special procedures for issuance and re-issuance of Canadian immigration documents have been created to help these individuals, which will remain available until September 19^th, 2013.

“As Canadians we come together to ensure that we do what we can to help people get through times like these and to help them get back to their employment and caring for their families,” said Minister Kenney, “this is another measure the federal government is taking so that those affected by the flooding have one less thing to worry about.”

How do you access assistance?

1. Call center: Call Citizenship and Immigration Canada at 1-888-242-2100 and press “7” to be directed to an agent who can advise you on how to proceed;
2. Email Option: Send an email to prairies-situation@cic.gc.ca. Include in the email your Unique Client Identifier (UCI#), full name, date of birth, and place and country of birth. Write “URGENT:FLOOD” in the subject line and an agent will follow up with you;

The Citizenship and Immigration office at the Harry Hay Building in Calgary has been re-opened in room 210, 220 4^th Avenue South East. Scheduled appointments that were cancelled between June 20^th and 28^th will be re-scheduled on a priority basis.

Temporary and permanent residents must demonstrate that they were in fact affected by the flooding and can do so by providing a government-issued identity document showing a residential address in an affect community, or by providing their registration with Red Cross.

FWCanada is a Montreal-based immigration law firm that provides professional legal services on Canadian immigration. For more tips and updates on Canadian immigration, follow FWCanada on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.