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|  Selecting Skilled Worker & Business Immigrants. |
The government has consulted widely and regularly since 1996 to build an immigration system that meets the needs of all involved -- from the applicants themselves to employers and communities that need skilled workers and the taxpayers who fund the immigration program in Canada. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) was the result of this analysis and consultation. It was implemented on June 28, 2002.
The inventory of skilled worker cases in process could not be cleared before the coming into force of IRPA. Therefore, in fairness, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) took several steps which included:
extending the time in which these applications could be processed under the former selection grid from June 28, 2002 to March 31, 2003. processing these applications under a lower passmark (70 instead of 75)
offering a refund of processing fees to those who had not received a selection decision.
Some skilled worker and business applicants felt that the transition rules were not fair and took the department to Court. In February 2003, the Federal Court ordered that the applications of those involved in the lawsuit who had applied before January 1, 2002 be assessed under the former Act before March 31, 2003. CIC complied with that order.
For those who submitted their applications after January 1, 2002, the judge felt that they had been aware at the time they filed their applications that they would be processed under IRPA and that there was therefore no unfairness.
Following the Courts decision, many other people felt that their applications should also be reviewed. In June 2003, a Federal Court judge imposed an injunction on CIC, preventing the department from finally refusing any application which was filed prior to January 1, 2002. This injunction also requires the department to notify all applicants that could potentially be involved in a class action. CIC is in the process of complying with this injunction.
The courts have determined that, while they are legal, the transition provisions between the Immigration Act and IRPA are not as fair to applicants who applied before January 1, 2002 as the government had believed. The government has listened to that message. For that reason, Minister Denis Coderre is proposing to amend the transition regulations to allow economic class applicants (skilled workers and business immigrants) who filed their applications for permanent residence before January 1, 2002 to be assessed under the former Immigration Act (and then under IRPA if refused under the former Act). The Minister plans to consult his Cabinet colleagues on these proposed regulatory amendments at the first available opportunity.
These proposed amendments would meet the applicants' request to be processed under the selection criteria in place at the time they filed their applications and also give them the benefit of an assessment under IRPA.
CIC also proposes to offer the same processing to:
those people who had applied prior to January 01, 2002 and who were refused between the coming into force of the new selection grid on March 31, 2003 and June 20, 2003; and those who withdrew their applications between January 01, 2002 and the coming into force of these proposed regulatory amendments.
Applicants in these last two groups will be required to advise CIC of their desire to be processed before January 01, 2005.
CIC does not propose to amend the regulations to allow applicants who applied to immigrate to Canada between January 1, 2002 and the coming into force of IRPA. These applicants were aware, at the time they filed their applications, that they would be processed under IRPA. The courts have not disagreed with the department's interpretation of the transition rules as they apply to this group.
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