Indian-origin couple's son refused entry into Canada

A three-and-half-year-old Indian boy has been refused reunion with his parents -- living in Canada as permanent residents for about two years -- because of a human error and apparently inflexible governmental reading of immigration regulations, a media report said Thursday.

Bhavna Bajaj and Aman Sood's troubles with Canada's immigration department started when they acted on poor advice from an immigration consultant and failed to fill in the proper paperwork for their son Daksh before migrating to Canada as skilled workers in 2013, the Ottawa Citizen news website reported.

The Indian-origin couple intended to apply to sponsor their child once they arrived in Canada, but they got a horrible surprise when they were threatened with immediate deportation unless they signed a document that they would never attempt to sponsor him for permanent residency. They signed the document in haste and confusion, the report said.

Daksh continues to live with his paternal grandparents in India, and the couple's request to the immigration department to allow the boy into Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was met with refusal.

The report said "the department doesn't seem to know what it is talking about", as an email this week from the immigration department's case management branch expressed its inability to help the couple saying the matter was pending before the Federal Court.

"But the case is not before the court anymore. The court rejected a request to review it on Dec 13, without explanation," it added.

To garner support for the Ottawa-based family and help sway authorities into action, an online petition has been started on change.org, which has so far received more than 6,000 signatures from well-wishers.