Undine Weiler felt huge relief when Ottawa relaxed its travel ban for foreign workers earlier this month . It meant she would soon be back with her husband and four children in Calgary. Or so she thought.

Weiler, a German citizen with an open work permit, was reassured by the Canadian embassy in Germany that she’d be allowed to return to Canada, despite severe restrictions enacted to stem the spread of COVID-19.

She booked a ticket aboard an Air Canada flight from Frankfurt last Thursday. But, when she arrived for her flight, Weiler was denied boarding and told it was because her open work permit was issued as a dependant to her husband, a software engineer, who brought his family to Calgary as a temporary foreign worker in 2018.

“I showed them the family photos on my phone and all the (Canadian) documents I have, but they wouldn’t let me get on the flight,” said a distraught Weiler, 44, who flew to Germany in mid-February to wrap up her academic work for a master’s degree in education.

“All my kids are very anxious to see me, especially in this emotional time during a pandemic,” she said of her daughters Fiona, 16, twins Naja and Nele, both 14, and seven-year-old son Fenno.

“It just makes no sense to keep the family apart. We are already suffering and we are going to suffer more.”

The Canadian government imposed travel restrictions on non-Canadian citizens and permanent residents on March 18, but relaxed the air travel rules two days later to provide exemptions to migrant farm workers, fish/seafood workers and other temporary foreign workers.

“Allowing foreign workers to enter Canada recognizes their vital importance to the Canadian economy, including food security for Canadians and the success of Canadian food producers,” the government said in the news release.

“Those affected by these exemptions should not try to travel to Canada immediately,” it warned. “We will announce when the exemptions are in place.”

Released Thursday, the details also specified that the travel ban does not apply to those with valid work permits, among other exempted groups. Immigration officials could not be reached on Saturday for comment on Weiler’s case.

Weiler reached out to the Canadian embassy and officials advised her by email that she needed to be “authorized in writing by a consular officer for the purpose of reuniting family members.”

The email also told her she must provide the original or copies of documentation showing the relationship between her and her family members in Canada, such as a marriage certificate or birth certificate.

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Weiler now has digital images of those documents and plans to go to the Canadian embassy in Berlin on Monday.

“We appreciate Canada’s measures to stop the (spread of) the virus, but it would be nice if our officials can make their decisions on a human level rather than based just on official documents,” said Weiler, who now hopes to get on the next flight to Canada on Wednesday. “I’m just anxious to be home with my family.”