Toronto family still waiting for caregiver visa for man helping their autistic son

The parents of an autistic man have been trying to bring a special caregiver to Toronto to live with them for almost two years, but the significant processing backlog in Canada’s immigration system has the application stuck in a bottleneck.

Aodhan Neely, 22, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when he was a baby and speaks to his virtual caregiver Rasim Mammadli several times a week over FaceTime. They talk about life, movies, feelings and fun facts.

Aodhan expresses his feelings through art, but his mother says communication can be a real challenge when he steps away from painting.

Elaine Neely tells CityNews having Mammadli as a live-in caregiver would give Aodhan a new lease on life.

“We need someone who can be with him all the time to help him communicate to the world, and that’s where Rasim comes in,” said Elaine. “This is probably the first person Aodhan has opened up to and considers a friend.”

Elaine met Mammadli while staying with his family during international travels in Azerbaijan. She would often speak with Aodhan back home, and that’s how he and Mammaldi developed a strong bond.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the family invited Mammaldi to come to Toronto as a caregiver under a new program called the “Home Support Worker Pilot.” It took them six months and an immigration lawyer to complete the application process, but a year and a half went by without a whisper from the government.

“We did get a response that they asked for more information. They asked us to redo all the same things that we’d already submitted a year ago. They said, ‘Well, the police record check is a year out of date, and the medical is a year out of date. So you have to redo them,” said Elaine.

“I find this from talking to other people that it seems to be the case that you end up having to pay for all these things over and over.”

While the ball is slowly moving for this family, it’s not moving fast enough. Elaine says the system backlog is devastatingly impacting so many families.

“When Mammadli was first interacting and talking to him, it was so good, but Aodhan’s finally gotten to the point where he’s like, ‘Well, I don’t believe he’s coming. You guys are just not telling the truth,'” Elaine says.

“… You can’t explain to him [that we are] trying really hard. We’re watching Aodhan slip through our fingers.”

The IRCC tells CityNews there is no timeline for when or if Rasim’s application will be approved. As of March 31, there have been 25,000 applications submitted to the IRCC under the “Home Support Worker” pilot and a similar program called the “Home Child Care Provider.”

Since they were introduced in 2019, only 2,500 people have received a final decision on their applications, including refusals, approvals and withdrawals.

Elaine says she would like to know why it has taken so long and if anything will be done to improve the process.

“They need to improve the immigration procedures so that people can have more clarity and more understanding,” she explained. “I think there needs to be more visibility into what’s going on and why.”

Now, Elaine is worrying that Mammadli will have to move on.

“He’s still willing to come, but I’m afraid for not much longer, and this wheel will turn, and this opportunity will disappear,” Elaine said. “He’s a young man. He’s 26 years old. They move on with their lives.”

She says the wait is “tearing people’s lives apart.”

“You can’t keep doing many different things with your life. You have to choose a path. You’re putting all of your resources, finances, and things into one channel,” Elaine said. “You just put all the resources in, a stab at it, and then they take so long, and by that time, you know your life is changing.”

Last month, the overall processing backlog for the IRCC reached two million applications.

With files from Meredith Bond

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