Canada's strict new security policy for landed immigrants that has left 48 permanent residents stranded overseas in the past three days because they don't have permanent-resident cards is "a bureaucratic mess," critics said yesterday. "This is absolute folly," said Winnipeg MP Pat Martin, the NDP's Citizenship and Immigration critic. "There should be an immediate moratorium and amnesty for a six-month period until such time as this bureaucratic mess can be straightened out."

Immigration officials and airline representatives played down any perceived problems yesterday with the federal government's new PR card.

Since the Dec. 31 deadline passed, people around the globe have been turned away from flights to Canada for not having the card. They were referred to Canadian consulates for temporary travel documents and forced to rebook.

Citizenship and Immigration spokeswoman Maria Iadinardi said 12 people attempting to fly to Canada were not allowed to board planes yesterday because they did not have a PR card or temporary travel documents.

Ms. Iadinardi could not provide any more details about the passengers. "We don't have all the information on the particulars of the cases because the cases are reviewed on a case-by-case basis," she said.

"Many airlines have been very helpful in rebooking these passengers with the proper documentation. And we're going to continue to facilitate the re-entry to Canada of those legitimate permanent residents," she said. "We always have contingency plans in place . . . to ensure that everything goes the way it should."

The cards were announced in 2002 as part of new security measures in reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

"The department of Citizenship and Immigration couldn't organize a peanut stand. Clearly the system is not primed and ready to go," said Victor Wong, executive director of the Vancouver Association of Chinese Canadians.

"You have to ask yourself what kind of security device is this?" Mr. Wong said. "We're concerned from a human-rights perspective."