Visa backlog keeping international family members from attending Toronto couple’s wedding

A wedding that’s been years in the making could go ahead without beloved family members of the soon-to-be married couple due to visa issues for international travelers.

Anshula Chowdhury and Krisette Santamaria have been planning their wedding since 2018. While the COVID-19 pandemic delayed their initials nuptials, like many others, the wedding is now scheduled for August 20.

“It’s a very small wedding and we just want our family around. We haven’t seen them since 2020. I have new nephews and nieces. We’ve had some losses on the family, so just being able to spend that time with people at our wedding is very important,” explained Anshula.

“These are the people who have supported us as individuals, as a couple, so it’s really important that they’re here,” she added. “This is kind of a way to say thank you to everyone who’s been supporting us.”

However, at this point, multiple family members have had issues getting their visa approved.

Krisette’s two sisters, Margarita and Nielsen Santamaria who live in the Philippines, applied for their travel visas back in June, but have yet to hear anything from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Despite their countless calls and trips to the embassy, there’s been no update with only five days to go until the wedding.

After their mother recently passed away, this reunion is more important than ever.

“I think it sort of took on more significance as well to have Krisette’s close family there,” said Anshula. “For Krisette’s sister not to be there is really unfortunate and sad.”

“We’re missing a very important representative of my family,” added Krisette. “There’s kind of like that missing piece at the wedding.”

Margarita told CityNews she expected the process to take about a month and they continue to check the status of their visas but have received no information from the IRCC other than a notice that the application had been received.

“My sister is my support system and we are really close and I think my mom would have liked us to celebrate this with her,” Margarita told CityNews.

Krisette with her sisters and their late mother. Photo Credit: Krisette Santamaria

Not only are they at risk of missing the wedding, since they have not been approved yet, plane tickets have more than doubled in price.

“The flights from Philippines to here has now doubled or even more. It usually costs like $1,500. Now it’s $4,000,” said Krisette.

Krisette explained the visa process for those from the Philippines was more difficult, but they didn’t expect her sister to have issues.

“The Canadian Embassy sees Filipino applicants differently, because you need to explicitly show that you are just here to visit and you have to come back so she had to like show all her assets so that yes, I have a business that I have to go back to.”

“We really want to celebrate as many milestones with her as many memorable events with her and this wedding is very important for her. So it’s important for us,” said Margarita.

The IIRC tells CityNews the processing window for their Visas is approximately 103 days. With their application being received on June 17, it has only been 59 days.

In a satement the IRCC said they do not begin to calculate processing times until we receive a complete application with all necessary supporting documents, but visitors are encouraged to submit their documents as early as possible.

“These processing times estimates may not reflect new or emerging global migration trends and operational challenges faced by the department, or recent changes to departmental priorities – all of which will affect processing times,” read the statement.

Another roadblock for loved ones in the U.K. was luckily solved.

Chowdhury’s first cousin, Samaresh Mazumdar, and his wife, Kate, along with their young son, had booked plane tickets for Wednesday, but minor driving infractions were keeping them grounded.

Samaresh said when filling out the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), a form for international travellers introduced back in 2016 by the IRCC, he was a little too honest about a couple of speeding tickets.

“I declared this in the application and instead of the typical three–five-minute turnover, three days passed and the IRCC asked for more information,” said Samaresh.

Samaresh told CityNews they had to provide a criminal background check, which found their records are clean, and were sent back to the IRCC within 72 hours. Since then, many weeks have now gone by with no update on their ETA.

“We are not a national security threat – we are just here to visit our family,” said Samaresh.

Less than 48 hours after CityNews brought this issue to the IRCC and requested an update on their file, Samaresh and his wife Kate received an approval for their ETA application. They will now be able to board their flight on Wednesday.

“We wanted a wedding that was small and that we would spend time with family. And now what we’re seeing is that just because of this very arbitrary process, there’s so much more stress around the day,” said Anshula.

“I can only imagine that the IRCC that they’re very overwhelmed and trying. I think it’s unfortunate that however this is rolling out, it’s rolling out in a way that is really impacting people and is forcing people to go through these really important life moments. In a way that frankly, just not as good as good as it should have been or can be expected to be,” shared Anshula.