Canada has a pretty bizarre immigration policy.
We open our doors for 250,000 new immigrants a year – an astounding number in itself, but especially when you consider how inclined our government is to make staying here as difficult and unpleasant as possible for some newcomers once they arrive.
Like when a couple was asked to fill out a 532-page “proof of relationship”, or when an elderly woman was told to leave the country because she mistakenly paid the old visa renewal application fee ($75) instead of the recently increased new fee ($200).
Or, as is the case for 24-year-old Briton Tom Rolfe, when immigration officials lock you up and kick you out of the country for helping your girlfriend with a little DIY.
Rolfe has been accused of “doing a Canadian out of a job” when authorities came across photos that showed him fill up a few cracks in the walls of his girlfriend’s new apartment. This was enough to convince authorities that Rolfe, who is in Canada on a tourist Visa, was working illegally.
“I was treated like a criminal and told I have eight days to get out of the country,” he says, adding that he no longer has a desire to pursue life in Canada. “I thought they were part of the Commonwealth so I’m surprised to be treated like this.”
Rolfe’s girlfriend, Sam, will follow him to Bristol, England in a few months, where she will presumably be allowed to do minor decor work on their new apartment.
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