Docket: IMM-3447-16
Citation:
2017 FC 408
Ottawa, Ontario, April 26, 2017
PRESENT: The
Honourable Mr. Justice Russell
BETWEEN:
|
KYLE DANA MARSH
|
Applicant
|
and
|
THE MINISTER OF
IMMIGRATION, REFUGEES AND CITIZENSHIP CANADA
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Respondent
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JUDGMENT AND REASONS
I.
INTRODUCTION
[1]
This is an application under s 72(1) of the Immigration
and Refugee Protection Act, SC 2001, c 27 [IRPA] for judicial
review of the decision of an immigration officer in the Case Processing Centre
in Vegreville [Visa Officer], dated July 30, 2016 [Decision], which denied the
Applicant’s application for a work permit.
II.
BACKGROUND
[2]
The Applicant is a 23-year-old citizen of the
United States who studied at the University of Guelph from September 2011 to
June 2016. During this period, his study status varied between full-time and
part-time.
[3]
During the fall of 2011 to summer of 2013
semesters, the Applicant remained in Canada under his mother’s work permit. He
began his studies as a part-time student in the fall of 2011, switched to full-time
studies in the winter of 2012, and resumed part-time studies in the summer of 2013.
[4]
After his mother returned to the United States,
the Applicant continued his studies under a study permit valid from July 29,
2013 to July 31, 2015 and, upon its expiry, a second study permit valid from
July 29, 2015 to September 30, 2016. He resumed his studies as a full-time
student in the fall of 2013, switched to part-time studies in the summer of
2014, and resumed full-time studies in the winter of 2016.
[5]
On June 17, 2016, the Applicant electronically
applied for a post-graduate work permit [PGWP]. The application included the
required forms and copies of his passport, university degree, and university
transcript.
III.
DECISION UNDER REVIEW
[6]
A decision sent from a Visa Officer to the
Applicant by letter dated July 30, 2016 refused to grant the Applicant a PGWP.
[7]
In the Decision, the Visa Officer concluded that
the Applicant was not eligible because he had not met the requirement of having
engaged in full-time studies for at least 8 months. The Visa Officer also
advised the Applicant that his temporary resident status would expire on
September 30, 2016.
[8]
In the Global Case Management System [GCMS]
notes, the Visa Officer stated that the Applicant had not met the PGWP program
requirements as the university transcript he provided indicated he had been a
part-time student during the fall of 2014, the winter of 2015, and the fall of 2015
semesters.
IV.
ISSUES
[9]
The Applicant submits that the following is at
issue in this proceeding:
1. Did the Visa Officer breach procedural fairness by failing to
provide the Applicant an opportunity to respond to the Visa Officer’s concerns?
V.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
[10]
The Supreme Court of Canada in Dunsmuir v New
Brunswick, 2008 SCC 9 [Dunsmuir] held that a standard of review
analysis need not be conducted in every instance. Instead, where the standard
of review applicable to a particular question before the court is settled in a
satisfactory manner by past jurisprudence, the reviewing court may adopt that standard
of review. Only where this search proves fruitless, or where the relevant
precedents appear to be inconsistent with new developments in the common law
principles of judicial review, must the reviewing court undertake a
consideration of the four factors comprising the standard of review analysis: Agraira
v Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), 2013 SCC 36 at para
48.
[11]
Whether a visa officer erred by failing to bring
his or her concerns to the attention of an applicant and offering the applicant
an opportunity to address them is a question of procedural fairness and is
reviewable under the correctness standard: Dunsmuir, above, at paras 79
and 87; Singh v Canada (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship), 2017 FC
266 at para 8.
VI.
STATUTORY PROVISIONS
[12]
The following provisions of the IRPA are
relevant in this proceeding:
Objectives
– immigration
|
Objet en matière d’immigration
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3 (1) The objectives of this Act with
respect to immigration are
|
3 (1) En matière d’immigration, la
présente loi a pour objet :
|
(a) to permit Canada to pursue the
maximum social, cultural and economic benefits of immigration;
|
a) de permettre au Canada de retirer
de l’immigration le maximum d’avantages sociaux, culturels et économiques;
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(b) to enrich and strengthen the social
and cultural fabric of Canadian society, while respecting the federal,
bilingual and multicultural character of Canada;
|
b) d’enrichir et de renforcer le
tissu social et culturel du Canada dans le respect de son caractère fédéral,
bilingue et multiculturel;
|
(b.1) to support and assist the
development of minority official languages communities in Canada;
|
b.1) de favoriser le développement
des collectivités de langues officielles minoritaires au Canada;
|
(c) to support the development of a
strong and prosperous Canadian economy, in which the benefits of immigration
are shared across all regions of Canada;
|
c) de favoriser le développement
économique et la prospérité du Canada et de faire en sorte que toutes les
régions puissent bénéficier des avantages économiques découlant de
l’immigration;
|
(d) to see that families are reunited
in Canada;
|
d) de veiller à la réunification des
familles au Canada;
|
(e) to promote the successful
integration of permanent residents into Canada, while recognizing that integration
involves mutual obligations for new immigrants and Canadian society;
|
e) de promouvoir l’intégration des
résidents permanents au Canada, compte tenu du fait que cette intégration
suppose des obligations pour les nouveaux arrivants et pour la société
canadienne;
|
(f) to support, by means of
consistent standards and prompt processing, the attainment of immigration
goals established by the Government of Canada in consultation with the
provinces;
|
f) d’atteindre, par la prise de
normes uniformes et l’application d’un traitement efficace, les objectifs
fixés pour l’immigration par le gouvernement fédéral après consultation des
provinces;
|
(g) to facilitate the entry of
visitors, students and temporary workers for purposes such as trade,
commerce, tourism, international understanding and cultural, educational and
scientific activities;
|
g) de faciliter l’entrée des
visiteurs, étudiants et travailleurs temporaires qui viennent au Canada dans
le cadre d’activités commerciales, touristiques, culturelles, éducatives,
scientifiques ou autres, ou pour favoriser la bonne entente à l’échelle
internationale;
|
(h) to protect public health and
safety and to maintain the security of Canadian society;
|
h) de protéger la santé et la
sécurité publiques et de garantir la sécurité de la société canadienne;
|
(i) to promote international justice
and security by fostering respect for human rights and by denying access to
Canadian territory to persons who are criminals or security risks; and
|
i) de promouvoir, à l’échelle internationale,
la justice et la sécurité par le respect des droits de la personne et
l’interdiction de territoire aux personnes qui sont des criminels ou
constituent un danger pour la sécurité;
|
(j) to work in cooperation with the
provinces to secure better recognition of the foreign credentials of
permanent residents and their more rapid integration into society.
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j) de veiller, de concert avec les
provinces, à aider les résidents permanents à mieux faire reconnaître leurs
titres de compétence et à s’intégrer plus rapidement à la société.
|
[13]
The following provisions of the Immigration
and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227 [Regulations] are
relevant in this proceeding:
Application
after entry
|
Demande après l’entrée au Canada
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199 A foreign national may apply for
a work permit after entering Canada if they
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199 L’étranger peut faire une demande
de permis de travail après son entrée au Canada dans les cas suivants :
|
[…]
|
[…]
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(c) hold a study permit;
|
c) il détient un permis d’études;
|
[…]
|
[…]
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Conditions
— study permit holder
|
Conditions
— titulaire du permis d’études
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220.1 (1) The
holder of a study permit in Canada is subject to the following conditions:
|
220.1 (1) Le
titulaire d’un permis d’études au Canada est assujetti aux conditions
suivantes :
|
(a) they shall enroll at a designated
learning institution and remain enrolled at a designated learning institution
until they complete their studies; and
|
a) il est inscrit dans un
établissement d’enseignement désigné et demeure inscrit dans un tel
établissement jusqu’à ce qu’il termine ses études;
|
(b) they shall actively pursue their
course or program of study.
|
b) il suit activement un cours ou son
programme d’études.
|
VII.
ARGUMENTS
A.
Applicant
[14]
The Applicant submits that the Visa Officer
erred in failing to provide the Applicant an opportunity to respond to his
concerns.
[15]
In the GCMS notes, the Visa Officer noted that
the refusal was based on the Applicant’s part-time student status during the
fall of 2014, the winter of 2015, and the fall of 2015 semesters. The Applicant
explains that, due to switching study programs three times, he was required to
take part-time studies during these semesters to catch up. Additionally, the
Applicant experienced depression that required him to study part-time. The
Applicant submits that he should have been provided with an opportunity to
offer evidence regarding why he enrolled in part-time studies for the
aforementioned semesters. Furthermore, the Applicant claims that, had he known
an explanation would be required for his part-time status, he would have
provided supporting documentation, such as a letter from his therapist and
documents pertaining to the study program switches.
[16]
In support of his submissions, the Applicant
refers to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada [IRCC] Inland
Processing manual [Guidelines] that instruct officers to schedule an interview
with an applicant if the officer intends to refuse the application and requires
additional detailed information. In the present case, the Visa Officer intended
to refuse the application because more information regarding the Applicant’s
part-time status was required. Consequently, the Visa Officer violated the Guidelines
by not offering the Applicant an interview or procedural fairness letter.
[17]
The Applicant also refers to jurisprudence that
allows the introduction of new evidence on the basis that it supports an
allegation of procedural unfairness: Nchelem v Canada (Citizenship and
Immigration), 2016 FC 1162 at paras 13-14. As part of this judicial review,
the Applicant has submitted medical documentation and information pertaining to
his switching study programs that was not before the Visa Officer for the
purpose of illustrating the evidence that he could have provided IRCC had he
been afforded the opportunity to respond. The Applicant submits that the duty
of fairness required the Visa Officer to inform the Applicant of the concerns
regarding the periods of part-time status. As such, the failure to provide this
opportunity was unfair, especially since the Applicant was not represented by
counsel and did not know that the additional documents were required, given
their absence on the IRCC document checklist for a PGWP application.
[18]
The Applicant also relies on Sandhu v Canada
(Citizenship and Immigration), 2010 FC 759 at para 33, which found that
visa officers should seek clarification to substantiate or eliminate doubt in
cases where there is a doubt without a factual foundation and the applicant has
submitted a complete application. The Applicant argues that he made a concerted
effort to provide a complete application by submitting all the documents in the
PGWP checklist.
[19]
Additionally, the decision in Baker v Canada
(Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 817 at para
32 found that where important interests are affected by a decision in a
fundamental way, there must be a meaningful opportunity to present the various
types of evidence relevant to the case and to have it fully and fairly
considered. The Applicant claims that after graduating from a Canadian
institution, he held a legitimate expectation of receiving a PGWP to obtain a
meaningful Canadian experience and, consequently, he should have been provided
with an opportunity to represent additional evidence relevant to his case.
[20]
Furthermore, the Applicant submits that the
purpose of the requirement for full-time status is to prevent individuals on
study permits from working full-time while studying part-time at a Canadian
institution. The Applicant only studied part-time as a necessity, not a choice.
He also did not work full-time during his studies. The Decision contradicts the
objectives of the IRPA. Consequently, the Applicant submits that he
should not be penalized by the legislation and should have been afforded an
opportunity to respond to the Visa Officer’s concerns.
B.
Respondent
[21]
As a preliminary issue, the Respondent submits
that the evidence that was not before the Visa Officer should be struck. Evidence
that was not before the decision-maker when the decision is rendered cannot be
introduced in a judicial review application: Zolotareva v Canada (Minister
of Citizenship and Immigration), 2003 FC 1274 at para 36. While the
Applicant has challenged the procedural fairness of the Decision, this
challenge does not require the introduction of new evidence.
[22]
The Respondent submits that the Decision is
reasonable. The Applicant does not meet the criteria for a PGWP, which requires
continuous full-time study in Canada and completion of a program that is at
least 8 months. The Applicant’s university transcript demonstrates that he
attended part-time studies during the fall of 2014, the winter of 2015, and the
fall of 2015 semesters. The Applicant only attended 4 months of continuous
full-time studies at the time of his graduation. Consequently, the criteria were
not met and the Visa Officer did not err in the refusal of the PGWP.
[23]
The Respondent also takes issue with the alleged
breach of procedural fairness. First, the Applicant had the onus of putting his
best application forward. He should have known that he did not meet the
criteria for full-time study, but he chose not to submit any documentation or
explanation that could have been considered. Second, the Applicant’s
explanation for not attending full-time studies does not render the Decision
unreasonable. The application is not a humanitarian and compassionate
application where an applicant may provide reasons to overcome ineligibility.
Moreover, the Visa Officer does not have discretion to modify, waive, or ignore
the eligibility requirements: Nookala v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration),
2016 FC 1019 at para 12 [Nookala]; Rehman v Canada (Citizenship and
Immigration), 2015 FC 1021 at para 19. Accordingly, the Visa Officer did
not require more information to make the decision and an interview was not
necessary.
[24]
Furthermore, the Respondent also notes that the
Applicant has been issued a new study permit, valid from September 20, 2016 to
April 27, 2018. Upon completion of his new studies, the Applicant may reapply
for a PGWP, providing he satisfy the criteria.
[25]
The Respondent submits that there is no error in
the Decision and this application for judicial review should be dismissed.
C.
Applicant’s Reply
[26]
The Applicant submits that the facts of the
present case contain an exceptional basis for providing evidence related to
procedural fairness. The Court may receive documents that did not exist at the
time of the application for judicial review where issues of procedural fairness
or jurisdiction are involved: McFadyen v Canada (Attorney General), 2005
FCA 360 at paras 14-15. As such, the Applicant has sought to clarify his mental
health issues that led to his part-time studies and provide an account of what
should have been before the Visa Officer had the breach of procedural fairness
not occurred.
[27]
Although some of the evidence was not before the
Visa Officer, the Applicant has provided it to establish the breach of
procedural fairness. If the Visa Officer had provided the Applicant an
opportunity to provide the evidence, which was available at the time of the
application, the Visa Officer would have been aware of the Applicant’s
exceptional basis for not enrolling in full-time studies at certain times,
thereby allowing for a fully informed decision.
[28]
Additionally, the Applicant takes issue with the
Respondent’s introduction of his new study permit, which was issued after the
Decision. As stated previously, new evidence should only be admitted in
exceptional circumstances and in support of a procedural fairness claim. The
Respondent’s rationale is neither exceptional nor linked to procedural
fairness. As a result, the new evidence should be struck.
[29]
With regards to the issue of procedural
fairness, the Applicant submits that requesting additional documents does not
correlate to ignoring program requirements. The procedure was incorrect and the
matter should be reconsidered. The Visa Officer intended to refuse the
Applicant’s application because more information regarding his part-time study
status was required. Additional information was necessary because a major concern
needed to be addressed: Yue v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2002
FCT 1004. Yet the Visa Officer ignored the Guidelines and did not offer an
interview or procedural fairness letter to obtain the information, which
eventually led to the refusal of the application.
[30]
The Applicant respectfully points out that the
Respondent has not cited jurisprudence that rebuts the Applicant’s arguments,
but rather relies on a denial of the claims set forth in the Applicant’s
memorandum and hypocritical introduction of new evidence.
[31]
The Applicant maintains that the Visa Officer’s
actions constitute a breach of procedural fairness and are a reviewable error
that merit reconsideration.
VIII.
ANALYSIS
[32]
As the Applicant concedes, this application is principally
concerned with procedural fairness.
[33]
Essentially, the Applicant’s case is that:
When the Officer’s concerns regarding the
Applicant’s part time studies arose, the Officer then owed a positive duty of
fairness to the Applicant to provide him an opportunity to respond to the
concerns, pursuant to the IRCC’s own manual and common law, especially given
that this was the main reason for the refusal.
[34]
The fact is that the Visa Officer had no “concerns” about the Applicant’s PGWP application. It
was clear from the application that the Applicant did not meet the criteria for
a PGWP.
[35]
What the Applicant is really suggesting is that
if an officer concludes, on the basis of the information contained in an
application, that the relevant criteria are not met and the application must be
refused, then the officer must give the applicant an opportunity to persuade
the officer to, nevertheless, grant the permit. This is not the law. If this
proposition were accepted then every negative decision would require such an
opportunity to respond, so that there would be no need for an applicant to
submit a full and complete application in the first place. The jurisprudence is
clear that, in this kind of situation, the onus is on an applicant to provide a
full and complete application. It is not up to an officer to contact applicants
and assist them in making an application that will ensure a positive decision.
See Singh v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2016 FC 509 at para
26.
[36]
In the present case, the criteria that had to be
satisfied for the Applicant to obtain a PGWP were clear before he made his
application. He knew, or ought to have known, precisely what he had to submit
to satisfy those requirements. His application did not satisfy those
requirements. Guide 5580 – Applying for a Work Permit – Student Guide clearly
sets out at page 5 the qualification criteria.
[37]
The Applicant now argues that he could have
satisfied those requirements with additional information. That is debatable,
but it is not the issue. The Applicant’s PGWP application did not satisfy the
necessary requirements. There is no law that says that the Applicant must be
given another opportunity to, in effect, enhance and re-submit his application.
But there is nothing to prevent the Applicant from submitting a new application
at any time if he can satisfy the stated criteria.
[38]
If the Visa Officer had needed clarification of
any fact stated in the PGWP application, or if he had had credibility problems
with the Applicant’s submissions, then procedural fairness might have necessitated
giving the Applicant an opportunity to address those concerns. But that was not
the case here. In this instance, the Applicant simply submitted a PGWP application
that did not satisfy the criteria for a permit. The only duty on the Visa Officer
was to make a decision based upon the facts before him.
[39]
The Applicant has also misread the Guidelines.
The Guidelines do not say that an interview must be granted if an officer “intends to refuse the application….” They say that an
interview is required when “the officer intends to
refuse the application and needs more detailed information”
(emphasis added). In other words, if an officer intends to refuse an
application because there is insufficient information to make a proper
decision, then the officer should seek the additional information that is
required to make a proper determination rather than just rejecting an
application because it is incomplete.
[40]
In the present case, the Visa Officer had all of
the information required to make a proper decision. The materials submitted by
the Applicant clearly demonstrated that the criteria for a PGWP were not
satisfied on the facts of the case. The Visa Officer was under no obligation to
then contact the Applicant and assist him in providing more information so that
he could qualify. There was no breach of procedural fairness in this case.
[41]
The Applicant has also attempted in this
application to enter new evidence that was not before the Visa Officer and
which he feels would have secured him a positive decision.
[42]
First of all, an allegation of procedural
fairness does not permit evidence on review that goes to the merits of the Applicant’s
PGWP application. The only evidence permissible is evidence that demonstrates
he was not given an opportunity to make his case in a context where such an
opportunity is required. The Court, in other words, does not require and does
not admit, evidence of what that case is, or what it would have been. See Bekker
v Canada, 2004 FCA 186 at para 11.
[43]
Secondly, the Applicant was given every opportunity
to place before the Visa Officer the new evidence that he now seeks to place
before the Court. The criteria for the grant of a PGWP are clear so that in his
application there was nothing to prevent the Applicant from submitting any
evidence he wished to explain why he had not met those criteria and to request
some kind of consideration of that evidence. Having failed to avail himself of
this opportunity, the Applicant cannot say that the opportunity was not
available to him.
[44]
Thirdly, the Applicant does not argue that he
satisfies the “continuous study” requirement. He
argues that the Visa Officer should have considered humanitarian and
compassionate factors and exercised discretion to grant him a permit even
though he did not satisfy the criteria.
[45]
Even if humanitarian and compassionate factors
could be considered, the Applicant did not place them before the Visa Officer
or ask him to take them into account. The Applicant is trying to suggest that the
onus was upon the Visa Officer to seek out humanitarian and compassionate
factors that would assist the Applicant. I know of no jurisprudence to support
this position and none was cited by the Applicant.
[46]
A parallel can be drawn with the case of Lingan
v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2014 FC 706 which addressed the
irrelevance of humanitarian and compassionate factors in the context of a
removal order:
[8] Counsel for the applicant
artfully attempted to turn this matter into something that it is not. This is
not a humanitarian and compassionate application and it was not the remit of
the Immigration Division to consider evidence that would be relevant to such an
application (Wajaras v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2009 FC
200). To put it bluntly, once the conditions of paragraph 41(a) have been met,
the Immigration Division has little choice but to issue the removal order.
[47]
Even with the new evidence before the Visa Officer,
the Applicant would still have failed to satisfy the necessary criteria. There
is nothing in the governing provisions for a PGWP that confers discretion on an
officer to modify or waive the eligibility requirements on humanitarian and
compassionate grounds. The Visa Officer cannot simply ignore the required
conditions precedent for the grant of a PGWP.
[48]
In Nookala, above, Justice Mactavish had
the following to say about a PGWP program set up under s 205 of the Regulations:
[10] The standard of review to be
applied to the immigration officer’s decision in this case is that of
reasonableness: Ur Rehman v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration), 2015 FC 1021 at para. 13, [2015] F.C.J. No. 1015.
[11] Fettering of discretion occurs
when a decision-maker treats guidelines as mandatory: see, for example, Canadian
Reformed Church of Cloverdale B.C. v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Social
Development), 2015 FC 1075, 2015 F.C.J. No. 1089. The operative portion of
the document establishing the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program is not,
however, a “guideline”, as that term is used in the jurisprudence: see, for
example, Kanthasamy v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 SCC 61
at para. 32, 3 S.C.R. 909.
[12] The Program document at issue in
this case establishes criteria that must be satisfied for a candidate to
qualify for a Post-Graduation Work Permit. While the Program document also provides
information and guidance as to how the program is to be administered, nothing
in the document confers any discretion on immigration officers to modify or
waive the Program’s eligibility requirements. Consequently, no fettering of
discretion occurred when the immigration officer determined that Mr. Nookala
was required to hold a valid study permit in order for him to be eligible for a
Post-Graduation Work Permit.
[13] Mr. Nookala agrees that it was
open to the Minister to establish the Post-Graduation Work Permit
Program under section 205 of the Regulations. This provision allows the
Minister to create programs allowing foreign nationals to receive work permits
where the Minister deems it necessary for, amongst other things, reasons of
public policy relating to the competitiveness of Canada’s academic institutions
or economy.
(emphasis in original)
[49]
I see no reason to distinguish the present case.
[50]
Counsel agree there is no question for
certification and the Court concurs.