At a time when health-care workers are struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, Canada is preparing to deport an ICU nurse who inadvertently botched her immigration paperwork and forgot to pay a $100 fee.

Christine Joyce Vega, 27, says she would like to do her part in caring for those affected by the outbreak, but instead she is preparing for her imminent return to the Philippines.

“It hurts to know that I could have been of help and saving lives right now,” she says. “I feel unworthy and helpless as I am stuck at home and cannot go to work due to the refusal of the extension of my work permit.”

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Attaining the coveted permanent residence status should have been smooth sailing for Vega, who came to Canada as an international student in 2015, earned her licence to practise as a registered nurse, snagged a full-time hospital job and finally got a nod from the Ontario government.

After investing four years in her immigration plan, Vega scored 1,038 out of a maximum 1,200 points for her immigration application based on her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the Philippines, English skills, young age, her two diplomas from Conestoga College in Guelph and two years of RN experience at Markham Stouffville and Mackenzie Richmond Hill hospitals.

However, instead of being granted permanent residence, the Toronto woman now faces deportation from Canada on April 28, all due to a missing $100 fee payment and a document in her application to extend her work permit while her immigration application was in process.

“I had tried to do the right things for permanent residence in Canada. It was an honest mistake,” said a teary Vega, whose parents invested more than $30,000 from their retirement savings for her education — and a brighter future — in Canada. “I’ve worked very hard to get my (RN) licence and to contribute to Canada. I’ve paid taxes for the last three years. I’m not a burden on society.”

Vega graduated from Conestoga College’s clinical and critical care program as well as the gerontology and chronic illness program in January 2017 when she got her three-year postgraduate work permit while working as a personal support worker and on her licensing exams. She had worked at the two hospitals in York Region since December 2017. She started her immigration application last April on her own, without help from a consultant or lawyer, as is often recommended by the immigration department for straightforward applications.

She was selected and recommended by the Ontario government in September to apply for permanent residence and invited by the federal government to submit a completed application a month later. With her work permit expiring in January, she submitted an extension online in November — a routine process for work permit holders in transition.

It came as a shock to Vega when her extension was refused because she had only paid the standard $155 work permit fee and didn’t know she also needed to pay an additional $100 fee for an open work permit. Also, instead of filing her acceptance of the province’s immigration nomination, she said she mistakenly submitted the wrong document.

Without immigration status in Canada, Vega says she panicked and followed what she now realizes was bad advice from a friend and made a dash to the Canadian visa post at Lansdowne, near Kingston, to get a new work permit. That proved to be a big mistake. Once out of the country, she had no legal status to return. She was admitted back into Canada again but was told she would be deported.

“It would have been so simple for the officer to give Christine a chance to provide the missing fees and letter rather than outright refusing her work permit,” said Toronto immigration lawyer Luke McRae, who has been retained by Vega to stop the removal and restore her status.

“After years of study and work in Canada, deportation is a crude and insulting response to her mistake. Christine has done so much to serve and assist Canadians as a nurse. I don’t see how deporting an ICU nurse in the midst of a pandemic is in any Canadian’s interest.”

I don't see how deporting an ICU nurse in the midst of a pandemic is in any Canadian's interest," says Toronto immigration lawyer Luke McRae, who is helping Christine Joyce Vega in her fight to stay in Canada. TORONTO STAR

“The truth is a lot of nurses are already overworked,” says Vega, pointing out that the Ontario College of Nurses has already called upon retired and non-practising nurses to reregister and help out during the pandemic.

Immigration department spokesperson Nancy Caron told the Star Vega’s work permit extension was refused because she failed to attach her provincial nominee certificate and pay the fee for the open work permit.

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Proper instructions were provided to Vega to restore her status in the refusal letter that the nurse failed to follow, Caron said adding that on Feb. 20 “the department did receive Ms. Vega’s application to restore her temporary resident status ... which is presently in progress,” Caron said in an email.

In the meantime, the deportation order still stands.

Vega, the middle of three girls in her family, said she is heartbroken at the turn of events.

“My dream of permanent residence has been five years in the making. I came to Canada with the knowledge that if I studied hard and worked hard, Canada would grant me permanent residence,” said Vega, who has yet to break the news to her parents, who are both retired.

“I have invested my life, and my parents have invested their financial future in this dream. Now, to see it slip away after I made a few technical errors feels like I am living in a nightmare. I know I have made some technical errors. I only ask for a second chance.”