When Canadians Stephen Ney andÌýHyo Jeong Ney fosteredÌý— and later adoptedÌý— two kids in Sierra Leone, they had given themselves a long runway to get their sons Canadian citizenship so they could come home as a family one day.
Employed as humanitarian workers in the capital, Freetown, the couple have lived with the boys since they were babies. They completed the adoption locally and wouldn’t even need the involvement of provincial adoption authorities in Canada in what’s supposed to be a straightforward application process to bring Ezekiel, 5, and Nathaniel, 4, with them.
Three years after the Neys started the citizenship process in 2022, the family is in limbo as the children can’t even get a visitor visa or get a response from the Canadian visa post that’s handling their citizenship and immigration file.
“We don’t expect this to be just a rubber-stamping issue,” said Ney. But “if the best interest of the children is their priority as the (Canadian immigration) policy states, what they’re doing is really bad for our children.”
The married Albertan couple wouldn’t have needed the citizenship and visa for the boys in such a hurry if not for the acute health problems that prompted Hyo Jeong to come back to Canada for treatment.
Last June, Canadian immigration officials advised them to apply for visitor visas for their children. The Immigration Department said on its website that it takes about 103 days to process at the visa post in Accra, Ghana. They expected to obtain the necessary visa in October.ÌýÌý
To prepare for their return to Canada, the married Albertan couple has bought a home in Edmonton that’s down the street from Ney’s brother so their two children could grow up with their cousins and near their grandparents. The two have even been paying a monthly fee to save two preschool spots forÌýtheir children.
Assuming the children’ visas would not take long, Ney and the boys moved in with friends and relatives in the U.S. in August to be closer to his ailing wife, who could manage short trips. They have since moved to at least six homes and at times stayed in hotels in the last six months.
“We just have to go where our friends will host us,” said Ney, whose family’s legal stay in the U.S. expires on Thursday. “The kids always say, ‘Papa, where are we staying tonight.?’ That’s what they ask.”
The Neys have applied for an extension to remain in the U.S. But if it’s denied, they don’t know where to go because their sons don’t have the documents to enter Canada and the family can’t move back to Sierra Leone due to Hyo Jeong’s ongoing medical needs.Ìý
Ney said the lack of response from the Canadian visa post in Accra and its slow processing is unacceptable.
He submitted his sons’ citizenship applications in April 2022 after their adoption in Sierra Leone was completed. Since then, they have received one letter from the visa post — in July 2023 — requesting documentation for the application, including a home study report and a letter of no objection from a provincial adoption authority in Canada.
“We assumed that our application had been lost because there’s been no receipt and all inquiries were ignored,” said Ney. “It’s Fort Knox there. Nobody I know has ever managed to talk to anyone.”Ìý
He contacted the Immigration Department’s intercountry adoption services team in Canada as well as the adoption authorities in B.C., where they used to reside before moving to Sierra Leone, and Alberta, the province they were moving to.
The family, however, was told by all officials that no home study report or letter of no objection would be required because the adoptive parents and their children lived in the same country at the time of the adoption, which would be considered a domestic adoption rather than an intercountry one.
“If you have been asked to produce such a letter and you have correspondence from the provincial central authority indicating that it is not required, we recommend you forward this correspondence to the office processing your application,” said a reply from the Immigration Department’s adoption services team.
The department also informed the family that a recent immigration policy change would now also allowÌýchildren in the adoption process to come here on a temporary resident visa before their citizenship process is complete.
Ìý
With their expiring stay in the U.S., the couple also tried to apply for a visa for the boys to England, where Hyo Jeong would still be able to access the care she needs through her employer’s insurance. The application was refused.
“I almost smiled when we were rejected because the clarity (of British authorities) allows me to live my life,” said Ney. “We’ve followed and we’ve done everything we’re supposed to do.ÌýBut (Canada) is just sitting on these things for years and years.”
The Immigration Department did not provide a response to the Neys’ case by the Star’s deadline.
Late Thursday, the department said the couple were directed to submit their adopted children’s citizenship application to the High Commission of Canada in Ghana after it was confirmed in December 2020 that they qualified to pass down their Canadian citizenship to the boys. The applications were received in April 2022 and remain in process.
It said the step ensures the adoption is in the best interests of the child and that a genuine parent-child relationship exists. The processing time is typically two years or longer, varying significantly depending on the country and the specifics of the case.
The visitor visa applications for Ezekiel and Nathaniel Ney were received in June 2024 and are also still in process. The department said processing times can vary depending on factors such as whether an application is complete and how easily officials can verify the information provided and its complexity, as well as the capacity and resources available at visa application centres and visa offices abroad.
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation