Pakistani boy has medical for visa that could bring him home to Saskatoon couple

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SASKATOON — A boy whose Saskatoon parents have been trying to get him out of Pakistan has seen a doctor for a medical the child needs to get a visa.

The lawyer for the Afridi family says the boy and his mother had an interview with the Canadian Embassy in Islamabad this week.

It’s the final step after an immigration board appeal hearing last fall ruled in favour of the couple.

The case was sent back for further processing and an immigration officer has been investigating whether four-year-old Ajjab should receive a visa.

The medical results are expected to take up to a month.

Lawyer Haidah Amizadeh says the boy’s mother, Waheeda, is not in good spirits.

“She had come from a difficult interview and I was encouraging her to be positive and look at the end of the tunnel instead of the situation that she is in,” Amirzadeh told CKOM’s John Gormley Live show on Thursday.

Waheeda and her husband Ashfaq are Canadian citizens who adopted Ajjab when he was born to Waheeda’s sister. The woman’s husband died during the pregnancy and, as a widow with six other children, she gave Ajjab up for adoption to the Afridis, who have tried unsuccessfully to have children of their own.

Authorities in Pakistan granted them custody after the boy was born in 2010, but the couple soon ran into problems with Canadian officials.

They have been fighting to bring Ajjab to Saskatoon ever since.