In the recent decision of Azari v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2024 FC 34, the Federal Court of Canada emphasized the importance of transparent decision-making in temporary residency applications. This decision could have far-reaching implications for all temporary resident applicants. The case itself revolves around a judicial review sought by Mr. Azari, a citizen of Iran, whose work permit application under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program with a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) in the high wage stream was denied. The immigration officer cited concerns about Mr. Azari’s ability to leave Canada at the end of his stay and asserted a lack of significant family ties outside the country. Reasonableness of the Immigration Officer’s Decision According to the Federal Court’s review, an immigration officer’s decision can be considered reasonable when it’s based on an internally coherent and rational chain of analysis, justified in relation to the applicable facts and laws. The Federal Court emphasized that intervention is only warranted if there are serious shortcomings that undermine the justification, intelligibility, and transparency of an officer’s decision. Key Findings The decisive issue the Federal Court focused on here was the officer’s assertion that the applicant lacked significant family ties outside of Canada. Notably, the Global Case Management System (GCMS) notes revealed that the officer failed…

During an Immigration consultation, it's not uncommon for clients to receive an "it depends" response from an Immigration lawyer, probably leaving them wondering why these legal professionals can't provide them with a straightforward answer. The reason lies in the ever-changing nature of Canadian Immigration law, where specific circumstances often dictate the appropriate course of action to be taken by interested individuals and families. However, since Immigration regulations and policies are in a constant state of flux, what was true yesterday may be outdated today. Consequently, when someone asks if they can obtain Permanent Residence using the same pathway their friend(s) have, the short answer is "It depends." The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is responsible for introducing changes to this constantly evolving Immigration system through temporary public policies, operational bulletins, and ministerial instructions. These modifications aim to support Canada's Immigration objectives, assist Immigration officers–inside and outside Canada–with making decisions, and enhance customer experience/service standards. Consequently, Immigration lawyers must monitor all of IRCC’s online platforms to ensure they are informed of any sudden changes that may impact how they tailor their legal advice and communicate it to their clients in a timely and helpful manner. As a practicing Canadian Immigration lawyer, I have discovered that to yield better results for clients,…

Bill C-19, which amends parts of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act related to the selection process of economic immigration candidates from the Express Entry pool, received royal assent on June 23, 2022. With this assent, the Express Entry System, an online two-step application management system for key economic immigration programs, is undergoing one of its biggest changes since its implementation in January 2015. Before these changes, the Express Entry system relied on a points-based system to rank Express Entry candidates in a pool against each other and issued invitations to complete an immigration application to those that met the minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score cut-off set for that round of invitations. Only certain provinces and territories through their Express Entry-based provincial nominee programs would target candidates in the pool based on their labour market and demographic needs.   Moving forward, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will be granted the authority to create new categories to rank and group Express Entry candidates and subsequently issue invitations to apply based on these groupings. Each category created will need to support an economic goal in Canada and the eligibility requirements to be a member of a category will be established by the Minister of Immigration. In addition, the goal of each round of invitations as well…

In 2019, Canada’s Immigration Minister was mandated to introduce the Municipal Nominee Program (MNP), a program expected to distribute the benefits of economic immigration away from major cities to smaller underserved communities. To date,  there have been consultations with stakeholders about the MNP, but almost 2 and a half years later, the program has yet to be launched. The delay in launching the MNP is partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the reduction of pandemic-related restrictions across Canada and after seeing smaller communities and local businesses suffer economically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the launch of the MNP may be near. What is the MNP The MNP is a regional economic immigration program that will allow non-major cities across Canada to directly support immigrants with Permanent Residence in their communities. The MNP will have a minimum of 5,000 spaces to be filled by interested immigrants. While the selection criteria have not been released, based on the information available applicants will need to fill labour gaps and demonstrate a genuine intention to reside in and/or ties to the supporting community. Similar to the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program (RNIP), and rural Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) streams, interested and eligible communities will likely be invited to submit participation proposals to Immigration, Refugees and…

On March 7, 2022, the Government of Saskatchewan, through its Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program’s (SINP) International Skilled Worker stream, introduced the Tech Talent Pathway sub-category, aimed at easing critical labour shortages in the province’s tech sector and increasing its global competitiveness. Similar to - Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec - this new program results in a new immigration pathway for highly skilled technology professionals inside and outside of Canada who hold a job offer in Saskatchewan. Innovation Saskatchewan’s 2020 report highlighted that around 52,300 people worked in the tech sector provincially and that there were more than 5,000 technology companies, generating over $10 billion in yearly revenue. The report also outlined that a key advantage to joining the province’s tech sector was the strong wages and lower cost of living. For this reason, international tech workers outside of Canada who meet the eligibility requirements and are nominated can apply for a work permit and make their way to Canada to begin working for their supporting Saskatchewan employer.  Eligible candidates can apply directly to the SINP or as Express Entry candidates if they have a valid federal Express Entry profile. Eligibility Requirements  To be eligible, an applicant must intend to work and reside in Saskatchewan, as well as meet the following program requirements: Saskatchewan…

On February 16, 2022, Alberta announced several changes to its Provincial Nominee Program. These changes are part of the “Alberta Advantage Immigration Strategy” to attract global skills and talent, diversify the provincial economy, and support newcomers in Alberta. The first change announced was the renaming of the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (“AINP”), a federal-provincial program that nominates individuals for Permanent Residence in Alberta based on stream-specific requirements, to the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (“AAIP”). Similarly, three existing entrepreneur streams were renamed: The International Graduate Entrepreneur Immigration Stream is now the Graduate Entrepreneur Stream; The Foreign Graduate Start-Up Visa Stream is now the Foreign Graduate Entrepreneur Stream; and The Self-Employed Farmer Stream is now the Farm Stream. Program eligibility criteria for existing streams and pathways remain unchanged. However, moving forward, candidates who have applied to be nominated by the province via Alberta’s online portal must now submit any future nomination extension requests using the portal. All other post-decision steps remain the same. In addition to the above, Alberta announced the creation of two new rural immigration streams to Permanent Residence – the Rural Entrepreneur Stream and the Rural Renewal Stream. These new streams aim to promote population growth, reduce workforce shortages, and spread immigration to aging rural Albertan communities. Eligible rural communities are those…

Family reunification plays a significant role in attracting, retaining and integrating immigrants into Canadian society. Canada’s Parents and Grandparents Program (“PGP”) is an example of a program that gives families the chance to reunite in Canada. Generally, the PGP opens once a year and allows certain Canadian citizens and permanent residents (“PR”) to sponsor their parents and/or grandparents for permanent residence in Canada. How the PGP Works For the last few years, the first step of the PGP has been for eligible candidates to submit an “Interest to Sponsor” form. Then, in a lottery-style format, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) carries out a draw and issues invitations to selected candidates. The invitations are emailed to selected candidates and posted on the IRCC website. Selected candidates must then submit their sponsorship application packages by the deadline listed on their invitation to apply letter.  An eligible candidate is someone who is at least 18 years old and a Canadian citizen or PR living in Canada, whose income exceeds the Minimum Necessary Income (“MNI”) requirement set by IRCC for each of the past 3 taxation years before the date their application is submitted. The MNI is assessed based on the Canada Revenue Agency Notice of Assessments. Additionally, eligible candidates residing in a province or territory outside…

The Canadian government faces what appears to be a never-ending Immigration backlog. As uncovered by CBC, as of October 27, 2021, there were about 1.8 million Immigration applications in backlog: 548, 195 permanent residence applications, including 112, 392 refugee applications; 775, 741 temporary residence applications (study permits, work permits, temporary resident visas and visitor extensions); and 468, 000 Canadian citizenship applications. The latest increase in the backlog has been blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic and related policy initiatives. Operational capacity overseas and in Canada was severely impacted, which hindered Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (“IRCC”) ability to process applications and caused delays to submitted immigration applications. The delays have led to unpredictable processing times and growing frustration amongst applicants and their legal representatives. The backlog is directly impacting the lives of current and prospective applicants. The impact has spread from foreign nationals abroad awaiting their opportunity to contribute to Canadian society, to future Canadian citizens unable to vote, and to permanent residents awaiting to renew their cards or reunite with their loved ones. The plans of many temporary residents hoping to extend their stay or make their stay in Canada permanent have also been derailed. The current backlog has affected the Canadian economy which relies on the contribution of international students and foreign…

The Government of Saskatchewan, through its Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP), recently introduced the International Skilled Worker Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot program, designed to address labour and recruitment challenges for certain entry-level and low-skilled positions in the province. This also results in a new immigration pathway for entry-level and low-skilled workers inside and outside of Canada who hold a job offer in Saskatchewan. Employers interested in submitting Job Approval Forms for the Pilot program have been able to do so since December 15, 2021. From January 15, 2022, SINP applications for the Pilot program are being accepted. At this time, no end date for the Pilot program has been set. The sectors with the highest labour demands in Saskatchewan include health, manufacturing, agriculture, ag-tech, construction, hospitality and retail. Through this creative Pilot program, foreign workers outside of Canada who meet the eligibility requirements and are approved/nominated will be able to apply for a work permit and make their way to Canada to begin working for their supporting Saskatchewan employer. With limited routes to Canadian immigration available for low-skilled/entry-level foreign workers, this Pilot program hopes to not only provide Saskatchewan employers with a larger selection pool of international talent, but also provide foreign entry-level/low-skilled workers with a route to enter, work, and obtain permanent residency…

Alberta’s New Tech-Focused Immigration Pathway to Permanent Residence As part of its Recovery Plan and desire to become a dominant tech-hub in Canada and abroad, Alberta has introduced the “Accelerated Tech Pathway,” a new tech pilot under the Alberta Immigration Nominee Program (“AINP”) – a federal-provincial program that nominates individuals for permanent residence in Alberta based on stream-specific requirements. According to the Alberta Enterprise Corporation, there are currently more than 3,000 tech-based companies in Alberta. Additionally, since 2012, Alberta has seen its tech-sector grow 233% per the 2021 Alberta Technology Deal Flow Study. As such, the Government of Alberta sees the Accelerated Tech Pathway as a proactive approach to attracting highly skilled foreign tech talent to address the needs of Albertan tech-companies, while also drawing in more investment in the growing tech-sector and opportunities for all Albertans. Through this new immigration pathway, eligible highly skilled foreign tech professionals from across Canada and abroad have access to expedited processing of their Permanent Residence application in Alberta – approximately 6 months. Nominated candidates residing abroad also receive a provincial letter of support as part of their nomination package, which they can use to apply for a work permit.  Eligibility Requirements To be eligible for this fast-tracked pathway to Permanent Residence, interested foreign tech professionals will…