Bruce Rosen, left, is seen with his wife, Cibele, and their four-year-old daughter, Brielle, in an undated handout photo.Courtesy of family
More than five months after he was last with his wife and daughter, a Canadian executive in China has no sign of when his family might be reunited, as officials create special travel channels for people to enter China from other countries, but not Canada.
Bruce Rosen, a senior manager at a Chinese joint venture for Volkswagen, has lived in China for eight years. He married his wife, Cibele, in China, and their four-year-old daughter, Brielle, was born in the country.
But his family has been kept on opposite sides of the Pacific since February, as the spreading COVID-19 pandemic prompted governments around the world to close borders and cancel flights. In late June, authorities in China issued a specialized invitation letter allowing his family to return. But nearly a month later, the consulate in Montreal has yet to provide a visa for them, although on Tuesday Mr. Rosen was told the case is under final review, making him optimistic the long separation will soon draw to a close.
“We have just not been able to make any progress,” Mr. Rosen said. “They’ve only just said that at this point in time they’re not processing the visa.”
The family’s months apart haven’t been easy: In China, Mr. Rosen was the only foreigner on board a domestic flight earlier this year when he was asked to get off after the pilot said he was not comfortable with him on the plane. The remaining passengers burst into applause as he left. In Montreal, meanwhile, his daughter recently fell and broke her clavicle.
“I’ve never been separated from my family for more than a couple of weeks for travel,” Mr. Rosen said. “So emotionally, it’s very difficult. It’s almost six months – 12.5 per cent of my daughter’s short life so far.”
Many countries, including Canada, have continued to allow entry for foreign nationals with permanent residency, as well as immediate family members of Canadian citizens.
China, however, is among those that have barred entry to all foreign nationals, including residents. Chinese authorities have maintained those restrictions as the country largely eliminated the coronavirus from its own population, although they have created exceptions for certain countries and companies whose business executives are valuable to the Chinese economy.
China has created expedited travel arrangements for those in business and their families from Germany, South Korea and Singapore, while opening the way to charter flights for people returning from Japan, France, Italy and elsewhere.
Canada, which remains in a period of prolonged tension with China, is not among those countries, adding to the difficulty for those who have endured what three Canadian chambers of commerce in China, in a May letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs, called “enormous personal, mental and economic costs” from separation. The chambers at the time called for “a clear, public path forward” to allow Canadian business leaders, teachers and their families to return to China.
Since then, however, the Chinese government has made no special allowance for Canadians to return.
It’s not clear how many wish to return. In normal times, thousands of Canadians live in China; in February, the Canadian government evacuated more than 400 people from the Wuhan region in the heart of the initial coronavirus outbreak.
The German Chamber of Commerce in China has organized three chartered flights to bring executives and family members back to China. Some U.S. companies have organized their own charters. The Australian Chamber of Commerce estimates that at least 500 people wish to return to China, after its members, in a recent survey, pointed to travel disruptions as the biggest pandemic-related impact to their business.
Some Chinese airlines continue to fly to Canada.
But Mr. Rosen’s family cannot board an aircraft without a visa. So “we are waiting. Patience is a virtue in this case,” he said. He complimented the Chinese government for its pandemic control work, which has allowed life to resume largely as normal inside the country even as the pandemic rages elsewhere. He also expressed understanding for China’s ability to control who enters its borders, for the strict measures Chinese authorities have taken to combat the pandemic - and even for the pilot’s authority to remove him from an airplane.
He also expressed understanding for China’s ability to control who enters its borders, and for the strict measures Chinese authorities have taken to combat the pandemic.
It has, however, been difficult to watch people from other countries return to China – particularly from Germany – while his own wife and children remain abroad.
“That’s what hurts,” Mr. Rosen said. But “we don’t dwell on the negative. We have to look at the positive – that if our colleagues could do it through Germany … maybe at some point if we’re not successful, Canada will step up and do what they need to do.”
Mr. Rosen, however, said the experience of separation has not convinced him to leave his life overseas. “I love China,” he said. “My choice is to stay here. That’s why I’m hopeful that my family will get their visa and come home.”
Sign up for the Coronavirus Update newsletter to read the day’s essential coronavirus news, features and explainers written by Globe reporters and editors.
Nathan VanderKlippe