Thousands of Ukrainians expected to arrive before visa deadline

Andrii Batitskii and his wife Kateryna Bondarenko are building a life from scratch in Surrey, B.C., after fleeing war in Ukraine. 

Originally from Kharkiv, a city just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, the couple are two of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who came to Canada through the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET), a temporary emergency visa program that was enacted shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The program offered an expedited process for Ukrainians to live and work in Canada for up to three years. 

According to the federal government, more than 960,000 Ukrainians were approved to come to Canada through CUAET, which stopped taking applicants last July. As of Wednesday evening, almost 250,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Canada under the emergency visa program. 

"It was my dream to come here," said Batitskii. 

Thousands of Ukrainians are expected to enter the country before March 31, the deadline for CUAET recipients to arrive in Canada. 

Mykhailo Ozorovych, pastor of the Holy Eucharist Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in New Westminster, B.C., says many Ukrainians have arrived in the past few weeks. 

He expects thousands more to come before the March 31 deadline, and says his church in the Metro Vancouver city is ready to welcome newcomers. 

"Just a welcome smile and language, I think, is one of the biggest gifts we can offer," said Ozorovych. "It's Canadians and generosity and hospitality that we're able to successfully welcome tens of thousands of people into British Columbia." 

Those already in Canada who wish to extend their visas until 2027, like Batitskii and Bondarenko, also need to apply by month's end.

Missing the deadline to extend the visa would mean losing government support services — including financial support and language courses — after March 2025, and could make it harder for Ukrainians to stay and work in Canada.

Daniel Lee, an immigration lawyer with the law firm Fasken, says there are other avenues to remain in the country if people miss out, but they are trickier. 

"You would have to go through the normal channel of applying for a work permit or a study permit, and usually that would be much more challenging," said Lee. 

Lee says to apply for a work permit, which could take four to five months, the person would need an employer willing to support their application and demonstrate there are no other qualified candidates they could hire. 

'One step away' from homelessness 

For Batitskii and Bondarenko, working on the application to extend their visa while balancing multiple jobs has been difficult. 

Back in Ukraine, Batitskii was a massage therapist and was going to school for nursing. Since he has been in Canada, he has had jobs in construction, restaurants, gardening, and background work in films. 

It is hard making ends meet, Batitskii says, and they are "one step away" from homelessness. 

The couple, who wed in 2021, had purchased an apartment in Kharkiv and was planning to have a child before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We just began a good life in Kharkiv … to become parents," he said. "In one moment everything is destroyed." 

They hope to become permanent residents, and one day afford to raise a child. 

"I believe I can get success in Canada, but it will be more challenging than I [expected]," Batitskii said.