Kamssor was at boarding school in her home country, Sudan, when violence erupted, separating her from the majority of her family, whom she hasn’t heard from during the 11 years she’s been living at the Kakuma camp. She doesn’t even know whether they’re alive.

She’s received a job offer from MacLeod Group Health Services, which operates seven nursing homes across Nova Scotia.

The jobs are permanent full-time positions with a starting salary of $36,525 at a new 96-bed nursing home in Mahone Bay, a seaside town around 85 kilometres southwest of Halifax. The home, which is expected to open later this year, is part of the provincial government’s effort to alleviate the wait-list for access to long-term care and free up hospital beds for surgeries and other medical treatments.

Sabriye and Kamssor applied for the program in December 2020 and February 2021 respectively. Within two months, each had received an email saying they had been selected.

“I was very pleased with that moment,” said Sabriye. “Getting this opportunity which changes my life, going to a country like Canada, which I used to dream of. Yeah, at that moment I was like I was going tomorrow.”

He laughed heartily at the memory, but the reality of the wait has been difficult.

Six months after receiving that email, Sabriye had a job interview over Zoom.

He also received an offer from the MacLeod Group on Nov. 15, 2021, followed by the provincial nomination to come to Canada on Aug. 5, 2022. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada confirmed receipt of his permanent residency application on Sept. 29, 2022. CBC News has viewed all of the corresponding documentation.

IRCC says it is committed to processing “most” applications under the EMPP program within six months.

That time has already passed for Sabriye. For Kamssor, it will be up in four days.

“The process is the process and we’ll take it one step at a time,” said Ley. “But you know, I think it’s fair to say we’re close to the end now.”

She also said her team is making every effort to recruit ethically and that they asked staff within the camp whether Nova Scotia would be contributing to the so-called “brain drain” or poaching of health-care workers needed there.

Michael Ikuro, who is responsible for training at the clinics in the refugee camp, confirmed to CBC News, he has no concerns about losing staff because there is no shortage. In fact, he said he has a lineup of people hoping to be trained to work in the camp’s clinics and is “grateful” Canada is recruiting refugees.

“What I can even ask is to pick, to take many of them, many of them,” he said in an interview at the clinic.

In March, the federal government announced it will create a new pathway this summer that will standardize eligibility criteria and streamline the process so there is only one application, allowing EMPP candidates to bypass the primary application at the provincial level, making the entire process “easier and faster.”

Meanwhile, Kamssor and Sabriye wait.

Kamssor is hopeful but somewhat skeptical that her new life in Canada will become reality.

“There’s nothing that will make me believe it all or know that I will go,” she said. “Something might come up again.”