Palestinian refugees face months-long wait for work permits, children barred from Alberta schools

CALGARY · Palestinian refugees arriving in Canada must wait months for a work permit, a delay that prevents their children from enrolling in Alberta's public schools for free. Community advocates say this process contrasts sharply with the welcome given to other refugee groups like Ukrainians, Afghans and Syrians. Saima Jamal, co-founder of the Calgary Immigrant Support Society, said Ukrainians received three-year visitor visas and work permits immediately upon landing. "With the Ukrainians, right on arrival in the airport, they were given the three-year visitors’ visa and their work permit was there ... everything was all sealed and delivered to them right on arrival in the airport," Jamal said. She described the situation for families from Gaza as a much darker scenario.

Jamal said wait times for work permits are now about three times longer than before, deeply affecting children. "These kids are sitting at home, not being able to do anything. And the parents can't work," she said. Her organization and the local Palestinian Community Association have seen families wait from 40 days to seven months, with five months being typical. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson Anahida Beladi said in a statement that the process differs because "each crisis is different." She declined to provide average wait times, saying they vary by application.

Provincial rules on school access differ across Canada. British Columbia and Ontario allow children to attend school if their families normally reside there, regardless of immigration status. Alberta mandates a valid work or study permit for registration, a rule advocates say schools began enforcing more strictly two years ago. Children cannot register without a permit and can be de-registered if a parent's permit expires, even if a renewal is in process. The only alternative is to pay international student fees of $13,500 per child annually.

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Yasmin Talal and her family arrived in Calgary three weeks ago after fleeing Gaza and then Egypt. She said her eight-year-old son, Yousef Zaid, has never attended school due to the pandemic, war and lack of status abroad. Talal was shocked to find more barriers in Canada. "He needs to socialize with kids his age. He needs to be out and about. He needs to acquire the language," she said through a translator. Yousef continues an online class from Egypt, waking at 6 a.m. for the time difference, while volunteers suggest using library English clubs due to a nine-month wait for federal language lessons.

Talal said the family had no other options but to come to Canada. "We couldn't go back to Gaza. Everything is destroyed. Our livelihood is completely gone. In Egypt, it's not even an option to stay there because we're illegal there. So even knowing that he wouldn't be going to school right away, I would still make the decision to come here." Her husband, Ziad Mohammed, was a journalist and pastry chef in Gaza before his business was destroyed.

Another family in Calgary's Royal Oak neighbourhood waited three and a half months for permits. Their son, 11-year-old Nasser Yaghi, said the hardest part was having no friends. He watched English movies and drew pictures at home. "I [felt] sad because I [didn’t] have somebody to play with, but I go to school. I am happy because I have friends. I play and I'm happy in school," he said after joining a Grade 5 class in November 2025. His father, Rajab Yaghi, who owned a tire shop bombed in Gaza, now drives for Uber with a two-year work permit.

Jamal noted that Syrian and Afghan refugees were welcomed under Canada's refugee program and granted permanent residency on arrival. Ukrainians and Palestinians, however, receive temporary visas. The federal government has capped the number of Palestinian refugees at 5,000. These challenges are separate from a recent Alberta referendum, where 52 percent of voters supported the idea of charging fees for services like education to residents with temporary immigration status.

With files from CBC News