CANADIAN JUDGE ORDERED IMMIGRATION MINISTER TO CONTINUE PROCESSING SKILLED WORKERS APPLICATIONS

Applicants for Canadian immigration would heave a sigh of relief going by the recent ruling of a canadian judge on the state of such applicants whose application process for canadian immigration is already ongoing before the enactment of the new immigration laws that tend to restrict immigrants seeking to migrate to the canadian shores. 
The court voiced particular concern there was no legal authority for the Quebec Immigration Minister to begin applying the new law, by suspending the processing of applications submitted before August 2, 2018 and not yet decided by February 7, 2019, as section 20 of the bill will allow.

It also rejected the Minister’s position claiming it retained the power to implement the effect of this new law, on the basis of the general powers it holds to implement immigration policies that are relevant and efficient.  

The court held the immigration minister to act in conformity with the principle of the rule of law.  It must exercise its powers under the law in force and not on the basis of a proposed legislative modification even if this was not the most efficient use of its resources.  Applicants are entitled to have their applications reviewed, under current rules.

What can applicants with pending applications expect?

Evidence presented suggests that MIDI will unlikely issue more than 1000 approvals from the pool of pending applications for the rest of 2019.  Many of the applications in the backlog have outdated documents, or do not meet more stringent amendments put into place in August 2018.

The court will not attempt to define the pace of usual treatment the Quebec Immigration Minister must follow in processing existing applications.MIDI has wide latitude to manage its case load, but must follow a processing time which is reasonable.

Candidates who are currently working or studying in Quebec will be invited to apply under the  Candidates who meet such rules will be given priority processing and will not be subject to Bill 9.

The vast majority of the 18,000 pending applicants who are outside Quebec, will not find any relief from today’s judgment.  Once the law ultimately comes into effect, most applicants who have not issued approvals by that date, will find their applications canceled under Bill 9.

Read more news about Canada Immigration on this blog in our subsequent posts