Surrey couple finally reunited in Canada after 24 years of marriage, 'brutal' immigration issues

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At around 13 hours, a flight from Delhi to Vancouver is no small prospect.

But Charanjit Basanti’s journey to Canada as a permanent resident took much longer than that: nearly a quarter of a century.

Since 1999, 55-year-old Charanjit has been married to 72-year-old Paramjit Basanti, a Canadian citizen living in Surrey.

But immigration officials have repeatedly refused to allow Paramjit to sponsor Charanjit for Canadian residency. That means they’ve spent much of their marriage a world apart – he in Canada, she in India – connecting briefly.

Charanjit was approved as a permanent resident in September. On Saturday morning, she flew to her new home in the Lower Mainland, greeted at Vancouver International Airport by her husband, roses in hand.

“It’s a joy that we are together today,” Charanjit said in Punjabi, adding that immigration delays made the reunion bittersweet.

“We haven’t built a life together. We lived without children … we both had to live separately. Our care didn’t get to flourish.

“Our lives are ruined. We have nothing – no home, no house, no money. My life that I have endured, only God knows.”

Change the rules
Charanjit and Paramjit got married in 1999 in an arranged marriage. Paramjit sponsored his wife to come to Canada the following year.

But the application and four others were rejected. Officials believe the pair were not genuine, or they avoided previous rules that highlighted those concerns.

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