Ukrainian families in B.C. are pressing the federal government for a permanent residency pathway, saying that despite a renewed option to extend their stay, the war has made going home all but impossible.
Iryna Vovk, a mother of two, fled from Ukraine to Poland the day the war started. She said her family’s future remains uncertain in Canada with a possibility of returning to Ukraine.
“When we came here, we felt equal among others.” said Vovk, who arrived in Vancouver, Canada in January 2024 after staying in Poland. But two years later, the relief started to fade.
Vovk is one of the nearly 300,000 Ukrainians who settled in Canada through Canada–Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET), an emergency temporary residence program. The program’s intake was closed in July 2023, and Ottawa announced that Ukrainians in Canada under CUAET must apply for a new work permit or renew it before March 31, 2026.
Vovk and her husband applied for and received their new work permits close to the March deadline. But on March 31, Ottawa announced that Ukrainian immigrants would have another year to extend their work permits for up to three years, pushing back the previous deadline, to much relief.
Applicants can maintain their temporary status during the processing period, according to IRCC’s emailed statement. After their permits expire, they need to apply for permanent residency to stay in Canada.
Vovk said she will apply to extend their permits again in 2027 if she does not get permanent residency.
However, she said a clear permanent residency pathway is needed to prevent families from leaving Canada and starting all over in another foreign country or back in Ukraine.
“Restarting our lives again under such uncertain conditions would be extremely challenging.” she said.
Vovk and her husband had planned to get permanent residency through the B.C. provincial nominee program’s tech stream, which offers a permanent residency pathway to tech workers like Vovk’s husband.
The B.C. government invites the eligible registrants after scoring them based on factors, such as work experience, language proficiency and education.
Vovk said the threshold for the required minimum scores went from 95 points in December 2023 to 108 in February 2024, reaching 141 in December 2024.
“It’s really disappointing, and I do hope the score might be lowering.” Vovk said.
In order to get more points for her PR application, Vovk is now studying to get better results on French and English language proficiency exams. She aims to get level 7 on the French exam to apply for express entry through the federal program for French speakers.
“[It] is quite an ambitious goal when you start from zero and can only study part-time.” said Vovk.
She now goes to job interviews after her contract with MOSAIC, a non-profit that offers settlement services to immigrants, expired at the end of March.
Vovk said the toil for PR is “draining and exhausting.”
“[My husband and I] have work, and our children are in school. Sometimes I feel like I should spend more time with them, maybe help with their studies, but I have my homework as well.”
Immigration changes
Like Vovk, almost six million Ukrainians have been displaced globally since the war, according to a 2026 UN report.
In October 2023, the IRCC launched a family reunification pathway through which over 3,200 Ukrainians, out of 25,000 applicants, have received permanent residency thus far, according to an emailed statement.
“The demand for [family reunification pathway] has far outweighed the number of spaces available,” said IRCC in an email. “In categories where applications exceed planned targets, wait times are longer.”
Ukrainians who didn’t apply or weren’t eligible for the reunification pathway can get permanent residency through regular programs.
Last November, Canada said the number of permanent residency admissions would be capped at 380,000 between 2026 and 2028 for “sustainable immigration levels,” while increasing intakes under the federal high-skilled and provincial nominee programs.
Subsequently, approvals under humanitarian programs, including those from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Sudan, are planned to decrease from 6,900 to 5,000 in the next three years.
A mother’s wish
Meanwhile, in Richmond, Liliia Ratushna and her husband also extended their work permits, planning to apply for permanent residency through the federal humanitarian program.
Despite being grateful for the extra year given to those under CUAET, Ratushna says a long-term solution for Ukrainians is needed.
“Living for several years as temporary residents creates a constant sense of uncertainty, and this lack of long-term stability can be emotionally difficult.” said Ratushna.
The attack on Lviv’s world heritage site “shows that nowhere is truly safe, and Russia continues its terror against civilians.” said Ratushna, who fled from Lviv to Poland when the war started.
Ratushna’s brother, 45, joined the Ukrainian Army as a soldier and was killed a day before his birthday. She plans to get permanent residency to give her sons a stable future away from the war.
Coming to Canada, she and her husband sheI “thought about [theirmy] children as a mom, about their safety, about their future, and to be in a peaceful and safe country,” she said. “Now we feel a sense of calm in Canada, and our children feel well here.”
New Immigration Policies Needed
Iryna Shyroka, the president of Ukrainian Canadian Congress B.C., says that as the war continues, creating a separate federal pathway for Ukrainians, who are now a part of Canada, is vital. She suggests the B.C. government create a provincial nominee program catered to Ukrainians.
“[Ukrainians] really would like to know that there is some future for us, that it’s not an indefinite continuation of repeated application for extension again every three years.”
Svyatoslav Lashkevych, a board member of the Ukrainian Canadian Immigration Consultants Association, said Ukrainians should be flexible to win the immigration lottery.
“Each person needs to understand how their personal, individual or family situation applies to all of these rules and identify the immigration strategy,” Lashkevych’s message to Ukrainians in Canada.
Always have Plan B
To give her children a better future outside of Ukraine, Iryna Vovk continues to strive for permanent residency, juggling between learning languages and applying for jobs.
She worries that her kids, after living away from Ukraine for four years, might struggle to fit in back in their homeland.
“I do not have any real picture of our future, I don’t know whether my children will build their life and will stay for their entire life in Canada.” said Vovk. “But what I see now, they feel comfortable, they feel safe.”
But uncertainty persists. Vovk keeps in mind what her immigration consultants have told her. “You always need to have a plan B.”
Jonah Jung
Joonha 'Jonah' Jung is a student journalist from BCIT who is passionate about covering community affairs and cultural issues.
