Immigrants applying to come to Canada should be assessed
under the rules in effect at the time of their application, the
Federal Court of Canada held in a decision that could affect hundreds
of thousands of people who applied under the 'OLD' RULES.
In a judgment dated February 21, 2003, Mr. Justice Michael Kelen
ordered Citizenship and Immigration Canada to process 102 applications
under rules that existed before June 28, 2002, when new regulations
took effect.
But the Kelen decision could have an impact on more than 170,000
immigration applications now in the pipeline. The government changed
the rules in mid-process, and then applied new rules to people who
had already applied before.
"Although the judge applied the decision to only these 102
cases, people who filed before Dec. 31, 2001, we think it has a
much broader implication and application," said one of the
lawyers from the team representing the applicants. The lawyers will
return to court asking to have the decision extended to other applicants.
The change in rules, the lawyers argue, stranded many applicants
who had already paid thousands of dollars in application, translation,
legal and other fees. And it deviated from past practice by the
immigration department, which has grandfathered applications when
rule changes are introduced — so applications already filed
would fall under rules then in effect.
Although the new regulations were implemented on June 28, 2002,
the immigration department and a parliamentary committee agreed
on a transition phase, ending March 31, 2003, to process existing
applications under the old rules.
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