Sad story of a “two-year old kid”.

Dina Mohamed Hamad has been continuously crying while she is trying to untie the red tape that forced her and her husband to leave their two-year-old daughter in Egypt.

It has been four months since Hamad, 30 and her husband Mohamed El Sayed, 33, has not seen their daughter Miriam. But the saddest part is that they might have to wait for another year before Miriam’s file gets examined to determine if she will get visa to Canada or not, immigration officials say.

Hamad, a chemical engineer, is really upset and missing her daughter. She says that whenever she hears her voice she starts crying. The family has been suffering due to unavoidable circumstances as Hamad’s youngest daughter Mallak, six weeks, is suffering from anemia complications and has undergone three blood transfusions at the Hospital for Sick Children. She requires weekly treatment. And add to this, the unavailability of Miriam and the suffering seems to be never ending.

Mohamed, 33, a financial analyst said that because Miriam did not had proper documents to travel to Canada, they were forced to leave her in Egypt. The couple has good jobs in Cairo and in 2005; they obtained the status of landed immigrants. Thereafter, they moved to Toronto. In order to dispose their belongings, they returned to Egypt in August 2006 and it was then that Miriam was born.

After they came back to Canada, they filed to sponsor Miriam. Following this, the embassy officials issued a letter to the family last July that stated that the process might take up to eighteen months.

Madonna Mokbel, the federal immigration spokesperson said that due to privacy laws, she cannot comment on the case. However, she did say that parents are required to sponsor the child to come to Canada, when the parents are permanent residents and the child is abroad. She also said that once a sponsorship application has begun, the visa office can issue a temporary resident permit that will allow the child to come to Canada. Mokbel said that sponsors can even request for speedy processing of their applications in emergency situations.

In the meantime, the family has appealed to Mayor David Miller and their MP, NDP Leader Jack Layton, so that something can be done sooner rather than later. However, Miller’s assistant provided just a website and phone numbers of Immigration Officials, whereas, Layton’s office decline to interfere in the case, Mohamed said.

Hamad said that they are really frustrated as one daughter is at Sick Kids and another is suffering in Egypt without her parents. They can’t even go to Egypt as Mallak attends Sick Kids weekly. Maybe the sisters will play under one roof someday sooner rather than later.