When Stella Xing travelled to Vancouver on Nov. 13 to renew her U.S. work visa, she expected it to be a brief visit.
Xing holds a Chinese passport and the United States requires that foreign nationals renew their work visas at a consulate or embassy outside of the country. For Xing, who works at a financial technology company in Seattle, the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver seemed like the most convenient option.
But nearly two weeks later, she remains stuck in the city, waiting for her passport to be returned with its fresh work visa approval.
“My visa got approved, and it was issued on Thursday,” Xing told CBC News.
She said she had expected to have her passport back by Friday, Nov. 15, but that was the day the Canada Post strike began.
Foreign nationals from the U.S. are stuck in Canada as they wait to receive their passports with newly-granted work visas. The documents are being held up in Canada Post facilities as the postal strike enters its second week. Pinkie Wong spoke with some of the affected people, who say they are losing hundreds of dollars a day staying in B.C.
More than 55,000 postal workers across the country walked off the job more than a week ago, stating key concerns over wages, contract work, job security, benefits and working conditions.
Xing said she’s feeling anxious about the situation.
“I don’t know when the strike will end.”
She said the unexpected postal disruption has left her unable to return to the U.S., and that the costs of staying in B.C. are adding up.
“I pay more than $100 US every day just for my Airbnb and my food, and also I’m paying my rent in Seattle.”
Others in similar situations share Xing’s frustration.
Haoyuan Cao, who works for a global tech company in Seattle, says he might even lose his job.
“It took me a long time to get this job, I worked really hard for [it],” he said.
“U.S. tech companies tend to have very strict in-person policy and I haven’t been to the office for about two weeks now, so [human resources] might give me a warning if I don’t go back to the office next week.”
Both Cao and Xing have joined a WeChat group with dozens of others like them waiting for key documentation that they’re now unable to access.
The labour disruption is affecting numerous foreign nationals and Canadians awaiting passport renewals, new passports or updates to their immigration status.
Earlier this week, Service Canada said it has been holding off on mailing out 85,000 passports due to the strike.
Employment and Social Development Canada said that “in anticipation of a potential labour disruption,” Service Canada stopped mailing passport packages on Nov. 8 — a week before Canada Post workers walked off the job.
Tens of thousands of passports are being held by Service Canada because of the postal strike. Provincial income assistance cheques are also not being delivered. There are workarounds for some of these challenges, but as Michelle Ghoussoub reports, not everyone can take advantage of them.
Canadians who already have submitted an application and need a passport urgently can make a request in person to have their passport transferred to a Service Canada centre that offers pickup service.
But foreign nationals like Cao and Xing don’t have that option.
Xing said her passport is held at Canada Post’s processing facility in Richmond, while others were meant to collect their documents at a downtown Vancouver branch. Despite several attempts, none have been able to retrieve their passports.
In a statement to CBC News, the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver acknowledged the issue and expressed sympathy for those affected. It advised applicants to use alternate delivery services as “visas cannot be picked up directly from the consulate.”
Canada Post, meanwhile, has said that mail and parcels in its network are secure and will be delivered on a “first-in, first-out basis” once operations resume.
The Crown corporation is also warning of service delays once the strike comes to an end, as it deals with a backlog.
“This is a difficult situation, and we sympathize,” Canada Post spokesperson Valérie Chartrand said in a statement to CBC News. “Unfortunately, [the union’s] decision to launch a national strike means mail and parcels were trapped in the system without warning to customers.”
CBC News reached out to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers for comment but did not receive a response before publication.