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Farnoush Dehghnan immigrated from Iran to Canada, looking for the “freedom to be herself.”

She started as a 30-year-old international student in 2016, studying fashion and design at George Brown College. When it came time to apply for her first internship two years later, she needed a work permit.

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Dehghnan had 10 days to get the paperwork if she wanted to remain in the program. But a visit to the school’s international student advisor revealed that if she applied in Canada, she might have to wait 90 days just to get a response.

That’s when Dehghnan realized the only way she could stay in the country she loved so much was to leave it … temporarily.

Four days later, in a race against time, after preparing all her documents, she and her husband woke up before sunrise at 5 a.m.

They drove, from Toronto to the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, Ont.

Her husband dropped her off near the border and spent the day in a parking lot, anxiously waiting in his car.