Student caught in Canadian visa saga still trapped in China

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A mother is once again appealing for help to get her student-son home from China for the summer vacation.
On May 6, Linda Hogan purchased an airline ticket that would take her son through Canada at a cost of almost $5,000, but since Canada announced it would discontinue visa-free access to Antiguan and Barbudan citizens, he has not been able to leave Beijing on the non-refundable ticket.
She told OBSERVER media that her son, a 23- year-old architecture major, was unable to secure a Canadian visa in time for his July 16 flight, after Canada’s recent visa requirement. Hogan said it has been three weeks since he applied for a visa through the Canadian embassy in Beijing, and he has yet to receive his passport or the visa.
“They [Canadian Embassy in Beijing] sent an email with the passport’s tracking information, and up to this day, we are still not certain as to its whereabouts. The first time he checked, the passport was in New York, the second time it was in Canada,” she said.
Attempts to get assistance from the relevant authorities within the Office of the Prime Minister have not been successful for Hogan, who said that since she first went public with the story of her son’s plight, her reception there has been cold.
“I asked them why is my child’s passport being hopped all over the world, and if it is not Beijing dealing with it? The ambassador said that he did not know why this is happening, or what is going on, because everybody else has gotten back their passports in a day, and they are already in Antigua,” she further stated.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)

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