OTTAWA - Thousands of people waiting to become permanent residents of Canada are angry about a backlog caused by the closure of a Canadian visa office in New York state.
Their applications were shipped from Buffalo to Ottawa last year after the government closed the office in the U.S. city.
Applicants say the move has placed their efforts to apply for permanent residency in limbo.
A spokeswoman for the group, which calls itself "the forgotten of Buffalo," says about 10,000 applications seem to be stuck.
Michele Doiron says some people have given up and left the country, while others are scrounging to get by in Canada, where they are so far unable to work or obtain health care.
On its website, Citizenship and Immigration Canada says it expects to have most of the files processed by later this year.
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