My husband, Fares Anbar, is a Palestinian musician who moved to Istanbul in 2019 to pursue his music career and build a better future. In 2023, he returned to Gaza for what was intended to be a short family and music-related visit. Shortly after his arrival, war broke out, leaving him trapped in Gaza for months.

After surviving the war and eventually reaching safety, Fares continues to face another challenge: prolonged immigration security screening delays that have kept our family separated.

As a Canadian citizen, I submitted a spousal sponsorship application so that my husband could join me and our family in Canada. Family reunification is a fundamental objective of Canada’s immigration system, yet our family remains separated while we wait for security screening to be completed.

Fares has complied with every request made by Canadian immigration authorities, including biometrics, police certificates, medical examinations, and supporting documentation. Eligibility requirements have been met, and our application has remained in prolonged security screening with no clear timeline for completion.

In addition to our spousal sponsorship application, we also pursued a Temporary Resident Visa so that our family could be reunited while permanent residence processing continued. However, according to information provided through official inquiries, our permanent residence file is awaiting the outcome of ongoing security screening. As a result, our family remains separated despite pursuing every available legal pathway to reunification and complying with all immigration requirements.

Our family has spent nearly two years apart. Our children miss him deeply, and the uncertainty of not knowing when we will be reunited has taken an enormous emotional toll on all of us. We continue to live in limbo despite following every rule and every requirement of the immigration process.

We understand the importance of security screening and respect Canada’s immigration laws. However, families should not be left waiting indefinitely without transparency, accountability, or meaningful updates after completing all other required stages of processing.

We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for fairness, transparency, and timely processing so that families like ours can finally be reunited.

Please support this petition and help bring attention to the many Canadian families who remain separated from their loved ones because of prolonged immigration security screening delays. Family reunification should not be an indefinite wait.