A Portage la Prairie family is continuing to call for a woman who's been in Canada for three years to gain permanent residency.

Momi Cohen and his family immigrated to Canada from Israel, and are striving to have his mother-in-law Isabelle Motrichko accepted for permanent residency in Canada. Cohen says they've been working on this for quite some time, and received notice last Friday she was denied permanent residency, and must leave Canada by the end of July. However, he notes it seems they neglected to review the file, as she was just approved an extension on her visitors visa to 2017.

"The refusal letter said they weren't going to approve this, and she has to leave Canada by July 29th, because she has no visitors status here in Canada, but she does. Everything is very, very fishy to me. The way they dealt with that, the way they reviewed, it doesn't look like they reviewed it."

He says Immigration officials provided no real reason as to why the application was denied, and they're puzzled about the situation. Cohen notes they've personally gone through the immigration process, and says they know they submitted all necessary information on Motrichko's application. Cohen says even their lawyers were surprised to see the application denied, given the strong case she had to become a permanent resident of Canada. He feels a sense of frustration given the federal government's focus on bringing in refugee families.

"The government wants to help reunite families here. She's done nothing wrong to anybody. We're not asking for anything from the government such as a free house, help with money, a pension plan, or anything else. We just want her to stay with us, give her the status of permanent resident, and let her live with us. She has nothing back home.

Cohen says her only child and grandchildren are here in Portage, and the only family she has in Israel is her father who's in his late 80s. He notes while as a family they're concerned, she's become quite anxious since receiving the denied application. Cohen says she's been unable to sleep, and has been quite fearful over the prospect of having to return to Israel.

"I don't even know how to describe it it's like if someone told you right now 'Hey, you have to get out of here right now.' How would you feel? You're going to be frustrated, and you'll have nowhere to go. They'll take you to the border and tell you to get out of here and find a place to live, but you have no money and no home. What would you do?"

Cohen notes their lawyers are currently reviewing the application to see what can be done to ensure Motrichko's able to remain in the country. Cohen feels with the sizeable application, and the fact she was just granted an extension on her visa should be enough to have her become a permanent resident, but questions if they had even fully reviewed the file.