Montrealers disappointed after racing to complete family reunification form online

It took less than11 minutes for every 2019 spot to fill upin the federal government's program to reunite parents and grandparents with their family in Canada.

Nader Diab was one of the thousands who were unsuccessful in submitting an application allowing his parents to permanently join him in Montreal.

He said he was on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website early, and as soon as the form was available at noon Monday,he completed it and attached the necessary documents.

It took him nine minutes, but he was informed that no spots were available once he hit submit.

"If you fill any wrong information then you could be rejected," he said, explaining he was trying to balance speed with accuracy in his application.

He said it was unfair to have a system where applicants are racing to fill out an online form.

"If I wasn't ready, I would understand," he said.

Racing to complete form

Living in Canada for over a decade, spending three years learning about the sponsorship process and using a fast internet connection, he says he was as best prepared as anyone could be.

Thousands of angry comments on the ministry's Facebook page show that he's not alone. The ministry says 100,000 people tried to access the form.

Twenty thousand spots were available, with another 7,000 added to account for duplicates and errors.

Diab came to Canada from Lebanon with his twin brother to study biology at the Universit de Montral.

Now a Canadian citizen with a good job and with his parents eyeing retirement, he wants to help them start the next chapter of their lives in Canada.

They currently live in Qatar, visit every yearand plan on buying a home for when they move to Canada. All those plans are on hold until they can get their application started.

'It's heartbreaking'

Nivin Zaim-Zouanat said she didn't even get her chance to fill out the form. She has been living in Montreal since 2007 and is a permanent resident.

She came here to live with her mother, and her father is still back in Denmark.

"It's just frustrating when you've been waiting for something for so long, you've been waiting to have the opportunity to be reunited with your parents and loved ones," she said.

Zaim-Zouanattook the day off work and was on the web page before noon, but says she couldn't access the form until 12:08. By then, she was greeted with a page that said no more spots were available.

"It's heartbreaking to me and to my family that we won't be able to be reunited," she said.

A spokesperson for the ministry said in an email that they understand many applicants are disappointed but that they "remain committed to reuniting families with their loved ones and will continue to ensure client service remains at the centre of all our programs."

The ministry also pointed outthat, according to an initial assessment, there appeared to be no technical issues with the online form.