Date:
20130131
Docket:
IMM-3727-12
Citation:
2013 FC 105
Ottawa, Ontario,
January 31, 2013
PRESENT: The
Honourable Mr. Justice Russell
BETWEEN:
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RASHPAL SINGH CHADHA
MANPINDER KAUR
ISHIKA KAUR CHADHA
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Applicants
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and
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THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
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Respondent
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REASONS FOR
JUDGMENT AND JUDGMENT
[1]
This
is an application under subsection 72(1) of the Immigration and Refugee
Protection Act, SC 2001, c. 27 (Act) for judicial review of the decision
of a Visa Officer (Officer) of the High Commission of Canada in London, United
Kingdom, dated 16 March 2012 (Decision), which refused the Applicant’s
application for permanent residence in Canada as a member of the Federal
Skilled Worker class.
BACKGROUND
[2]
The
Principle Applicant (Applicant) is a 45-year-old citizen of India and a resident of Kuwait. The Secondary Applicants are his wife and daughter. The Applicant
submitted an application for Permanent Residence as a Federal Skilled Worker on
21 April 2010 based on his professional qualifications as an Accountant. The
Centralized Intake Office (CIO) conducted an initial assessment of his
application, and then transferred it to the Officer for final determination.
The Applicant received notice of this transfer by way of letter dated 16 July
2010.
[3]
The
Applicant submitted his application under the National Occupation
Classification code (NOC) 1111 – Financial Auditors and Accountants. NOC 1111
states that Accountants perform some or all of the following main duties:
a.
Plan,
set up and administer accounting systems and prepare financial information for
an individual, department, company or other establishment;
b.
Examine
accounting records and prepare financial statements and reports;
c.
Develop
and maintain cost finding, reporting and internal control procedures;
d.
Examine
financial accounts and records and prepare income tax returns from accounting
records;
e.
Analyze
financial statements and reports and provide financial, business and tax
advice;
f.
May
act as a trustee in bankruptcy proceedings;
g.
May
supervise and train articling students, other accountants or administrative
technicians.
[4]
Along
with his application, the Applicant submitted a Schedule 3 listing duties he
performed during his work experience:
a.
Reconciling
and maintaining balance sheet accounts;
b.
Auditing
data sheets of raw material used to manufacture oil into finished product;
c.
Preparing
monthly payroll and daily wage reports;
d.
Maintaining
and following up on maintenance contracts with clients;
e.
Handling
accounts receivable;
f.
Preparing
collection analysis reports;
g.
Handling
cash flow and bank reconciliations;
h.
Supervising
annual stock audits.
[5]
The
Applicant also submitted letters from his previous employers: Kuwait National
Lube Oil Co., Al-Sundus Gen. Trading & Cont. Est., Kuwait Oxygen &
Acetylene Company, and the United Fisheries of Kuwait. These letters all spoke
highly of the Applicant and confirmed his employment, but none of them
discussed the duties that he performed as an employee.
[6]
After
receiving the 16 July 2010 letter, the Applicant heard nothing until he
received a letter dated 16 March 2012 informing him that his application was
not eligible for further processing.
DECISION UNDER
REVIEW
[7]
The
Decision
in this case consists of the letter dated 16 March 2012 (Refusal Letter), as
well as the
Computer
Assisted Immigration Processing System (CAIPS) Notes made by the Officer.
[8]
The
Officer completed an assessment of the application and found that it was not
eligible because the “information submitted to support this application is
insufficient to substantiate that [the] applicant meets the occupational
description and/or a substantial number of the main duties of the NOC Code.”
[9]
The
Officer found that the main duties listed by the Applicant in Schedule 3 did
not reflect the main duties of NOC 1111, and the employment letters did not
actually describe his past jobs. Therefore, the Officer was not satisfied that
the Applicant had one year of job experience in this occupation, and found that
the application was not eligible for further processing.
ISSUES
[10]
The
Applicant raises the following issue in this application:
a.
Whether
the Officer erred by concluding that the Applicant did not meet the
requirements of NOC 1111, when it is clear the Applicant did;
b.
Whether
the Officer breached the duty of fairness owed to the Applicant by failing to
give him an opportunity to respond to the Officer’s concerns.
STANDARD OF
REVIEW
[11]
The
Supreme Court of Canada in Dunsmuir v New Brunswick, 2008 SCC 9
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 well-settled by past jurisprudence, the reviewing
court may adopt that standard of review. Only where this search proves fruitless
must the reviewing court undertake a consideration of the four factors
comprising the standard of review analysis.
[12]
The first issue involves an evaluation of the Officer’s conclusion
that the Applicant was ineligible under the Federal Skilled Worker category.
The case law has established that this is reviewable on a reasonableness
standard (Zhong v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2011
FC 980 at paragraph 11; Malik v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration), 2009 FC 1283 at paragraph 22).
[13]
When
reviewing a decision on the standard of reasonableness, the analysis will be
concerned with “the existence of justification, transparency and
intelligibility within the decision-making process [and also with] whether the
decision falls within a range of possible, acceptable outcomes which are
defensible in respect of the facts and law.” See Dunsmuir, above, at
paragraph 47, and Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration)
v Khosa, 2009 SCC 12 at paragraph 59. Put another way, the Court
should intervene only if the Decision was unreasonable in the sense that it
falls outside the “range of possible, acceptable outcomes which are defensible
in respect of the facts and law.”
[14]
In
his arguments, the Applicant also takes issue with the adequacy of the
Officer’s reasons. He submits that this is a matter of procedural fairness. However,
in Newfoundland
and Labrador Nurses’ Union v Newfoundland and Labrador (Treasury Board),
2011 SCC 62 [Newfoundland Nurses], the Supreme Court of Canada held at paragraph
14 that the adequacy of reasons is not a stand-alone basis for quashing a
decision. Rather, “the reasons must be read together with the outcome and serve
the purpose of showing whether the result falls within a range of possible
outcomes.” Thus, the adequacy of the reasons will be analysed along with the
reasonableness of the Decision as a whole.
[15]
The
second issue is a matter of procedural fairness (Kuhathasan v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2008 FC 457 [Kuhathasan] at
paragraph 18). As stated by the Supreme Court of Canada in Canadian Union of
Public Employees (C.U.P.E.) v Ontario (Minister of Labour), [2003] 1 SCR
539 at paragraph 100, “it is for the courts, not the Minister, to provide the
legal answer to procedural fairness questions.” Accordingly, the standard of
review applicable to the second issue is correctness.
STATUTORY
PROVISIONS
[16]
The
following provisions of the Act are applicable in these proceedings:
Application before entering Canada
11. (1) A foreign national must, before entering Canada, apply to an officer for a visa or for any other document required by the regulations. The
visa or document may be issued if, following an examination, the officer is
satisfied that the foreign national is not inadmissible and meets the
requirements of this Act.
[…]
87.3 (1) This section applies to applications for
visas or other documents made under subsection 11(1), other than those made
by persons referred to in subsection 99(2), to sponsorship applications made
by persons referred to in subsection 13(1), to applications for permanent
resident status under subsection 21(1) or temporary resident status under
subsection 22(1) made by foreign nationals in Canada, to applications for
work or study permits and to requests under subsection 25(1) made by foreign
nationals outside Canada.
(2) The processing of applications and requests is
to be conducted in a manner that, in the opinion of the Minister, will best
support the attainment of the immigration goals established by the Government
of Canada.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the Minister
may give instructions with respect to the processing of applications and
requests, including instructions
(a) establishing categories of applications
or requests to which the instructions apply;
(a.1) establishing conditions, by category
or otherwise, that must be met before or during the processing of an
application or request;
(b) establishing an order, by category or
otherwise, for the processing of applications or requests;
(c) setting the number of applications or
requests, by category or otherwise, to be processed in any year; and
(d) providing for the disposition of
applications and requests, including those made subsequent to the first
application or request.
(3.1) An instruction may, if it so provides, apply
in respect of pending applications or requests that are made before the day
on which the instruction takes effect.
(3.2) For greater certainty, an instruction given
under paragraph (3)(c) may provide that the number of applications
or requests, by category or otherwise, to be processed in any year be set at
zero.
(4) Officers and persons authorized to exercise the
powers of the Minister under section 25 shall comply with any instructions
before processing an application or request or when processing one. If an
application or request is not processed, it may be retained, returned or
otherwise disposed of in accordance with the instructions of the Minister.
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Visa
et documents
11. (1) L’étranger
doit, préalablement à son entrée au Canada, demander à l’agent les visa et
autres documents requis par règlement. L’agent peut les délivrer sur preuve,
à la suite d’un contrôle, que l’étranger n’est pas interdit de territoire et
se conforme à la présente loi.
[…]
87.3 (1) Le
présent article s’applique aux demandes de visa et autres documents visées au
paragraphe 11(1) — sauf à celle faite par la personne visée au paragraphe
99(2) —, aux demandes de parrainage faites par une personne visée au
paragraphe 13(1), aux demandes de statut de résident permanent visées au
paragraphe 21(1) ou de résident temporaire visées au paragraphe 22(1) faites
par un étranger se trouvant au Canada, aux demandes de permis de travail ou
d’études ainsi qu’aux demandes prévues au paragraphe 25(1) faites par un
étranger se trouvant hors du Canada.
(2) Le traitement des demandes se fait de la
manière qui, selon le ministre, est la plus susceptible d’aider l’atteinte
des objectifs fixés pour l’immigration par le gouvernement fédéral.
(3) Pour l’application du paragraphe (2), le
ministre peut donner des instructions sur le traitement des demandes,
notamment des instructions :
a) prévoyant
les groupes de demandes à l’égard desquels s’appliquent les instructions;
a.1) prévoyant
des conditions, notamment par groupe, à remplir en vue du traitement des
demandes ou lors de celui-ci;
b) prévoyant
l’ordre de traitement des demandes, notamment par groupe;
c) précisant
le nombre de demandes à traiter par an, notamment par groupe;
d) régissant
la disposition des demandes dont celles faites de nouveau.
(3.1) Les instructions peuvent, lorsqu’elles
le prévoient, s’appliquer à l’égard des demandes pendantes faites avant la
date où elles prennent effet.
(3.2) Il est entendu que les instructions
données en vertu de l’alinéa (3)c) peuvent préciser que le nombre de
demandes à traiter par an, notamment par groupe, est de zéro.
(4) L’agent — ou la personne habilitée à
exercer les pouvoirs du ministre prévus à l’article 25 — est tenu de se
conformer aux instructions avant et pendant le traitement de la demande; s’il
ne procède pas au traitement de la demande, il peut, conformément aux
instructions du ministre, la retenir, la retourner ou en disposer.
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[17]
The
following provisions of the Regulations are applicable in this proceeding:
Experience
(21 points)
80. (1) Up to a maximum of 21 points shall be
awarded to a skilled worker for full-time work experience, or the full-time
equivalent for part-time work experience, within the 10 years preceding
the date of their application, as follows:
[…]
Occupational experience
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), a
skilled worker is considered to have experience in an occupation, regardless
of whether they meet the employment requirements of the occupation as set out
in the occupational descriptions of the National Occupational
Classification, if they performed
(a) the actions described in the lead
statement for the occupation as set out in the occupational descriptions of
the National
Occupational Classification; and
(b) at least a substantial number of the
main duties of the occupation as set out in the occupational descriptions of
the National
Occupational Classification, including all
the essential duties.
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Expérience
(21 points)
80. (1) Un
maximum de 21 points d’appréciation sont attribués au travailleur
qualifié en fonction du nombre d’années d’expérience de travail à temps
plein, ou l’équivalent temps plein du nombre d’années d’expérience de travail
à temps partiel, au cours des dix années qui ont précédé la date de présentation
de la demande, selon la grille suivante :
[…]
Expérience professionnelle
(3) Pour l’application du
paragraphe (1), le travailleur qualifié, indépendamment du fait qu’il
satisfait ou non aux conditions d’accès établies à l’égard d’une profession
ou d’un métier figurant dans les description des professions de la Classification
nationale des professions,
est considéré comme ayant acquis de l’expérience dans la profession ou le
métier :
a) s’il
a accompli l’ensemble des tâches figurant dans l’énoncé principal établi pour
la profession ou le métier dans les descriptions des professions de cette
classification;
b) s’il
a exercé une partie appréciable des fonctions principales de la profession ou
du métier figurant dans les descriptions des professions de cette
classification, notamment toutes les fonctions essentielles.
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[18]
On
15 June 2009, Citizenship and Immigration Canada issued the publicly available
Operational Bulletin (OB 120). OB 120 is meant to provide “visa officers with
additional guidance on making final determinations of eligibility for
processing of federal skilled workers (FSW) files referred from the Centralized
Intake Office in Sydney.” It states:
Insufficient evidence of meeting Ministerial
Instructions: Visa officers will assess the application on the basis of the
information on file. If the applicant’s submission is insufficient to determine
that the application is eligible for processing, a negative determination of
eligibility should be rendered.
[…]
For SW1 (one of the 38 occupations listed in the
MI), review the documents related to work experience. These documents should
include those listed in the Appendix A document checklist of the visa office
specific forms. They should include sufficient detail to support the claim of
one year of continuous work experience or equivalent paid work experience in
the occupation in the last 10 years. Documents lacking sufficient information
about the employer or, containing only vague descriptions of duties and periods
of employment, should be given less weight. Descriptions of duties taken
verbatim from the NOC should be regarded as self-serving. Presented with such
documents, visa officers may question whether they accurately describe an
applicant’s experience. A document that lacks sufficient detail to permit
eventual verification and a credible description of the applicant’s experience
is unlikely to satisfy an officer of an applicant’s eligibility.
[19]
The
Appendix A Checklist to the Federal Skilled Worker application form is also
relevant to this application. Page A-4 of that document says:
7. WORK EXPERIENCE
[…]
Letters must include all the following
information:
i.
the
specific period of your employment with the company
ii.
the
positions you have held during the period of employment and the time spent in
each position
iii.
your
main responsibilities and duties in each position
iv.
your
total annual salary plus benefits
v.
the
signature of your immediate supervisor or the personnel officer of the
company
vi.
a
business card of the person signing
ARGUMENTS
The Applicant
The
Reasonableness of the Decision
[20]
The
Applicant submits that having worked as an accountant for 13 years, it is
obvious he would have performed the required duties of the profession.
Additionally, the duties he performed were explicitly detailed in the Schedule
3 portion of his application. The Applicant also submits that the CIO would not
have forwarded his application to the Officer for further review if, on the
face of it, it did not appear that the Applicant met the requirements of NOC
1111.
[21]
The
Applicant states that there is no explanation offered in the Decision as to why
the Officer did not think he met the requirements of NOC 1111, considering the
evidence that was before him or her. There is no factual foundation for the
Officer’s conclusions, and the reasons are lacking in analysis or explanation.
The Officer’s reasons fail to explain the basis for the conclusions reached in
the Decision, and this is a reviewable error (Canada (Minister of
Citizenship and Immigration) v Jeizan, 2010 FC 323).
Procedural Fairness
[22]
The
Applicant also submits that the Officer did not reach the Decision in
accordance with principles of procedural fairness and failed to provide the
Applicant with an opportunity to address his or her concerns. As Justice
Richard Mosley said at paragraph 22 of Rukmangathan v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2004 FC 284:
It is well established that in the context of visa
officer decisions procedural fairness requires that an applicant be given an
opportunity to respond to extrinsic evidence relied upon by the visa officer
and to be apprised of the officer’s concerns arising therefrom: Muliadi,
supra. In my view, the Federal Court of Appeal’s endorsement in Muliadi,
supra, of Lord Parker’s comments in In re H.K. (An Infant),
[1967] 2 Q.B. 617, indicates that the duty of fairness may require immigration
officials to inform applicants of their concerns with applications so that an
applicant may have a chance to “disabuse” an officer of such concerns, even
where such concerns arise from evidence tendered by the applicant. Other
decisions of this court support this interpretation of Muliadi, supra.
See, for example, Fong v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration),
[1990] 3 F.C. 705 (T.D.), John v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration), [2003] F.C.J. No. 350 (T.D.)(QL) and Cornea v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) (2003), 30 Imm. L.R. (3d) 38
(F.C.T.D.), where it had been held that a visa officer should apprise an
applicant at an interview of her negative impressions of evidence tendered by
the applicant.
[23]
In
Hassani v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2006 FC 1283
at paragraph 24:
Having reviewed the factual context of the cases
cited above, it is clear that where a concern arises directly from the
requirements of the legislation or related regulations, a visa officer will not
be under a duty to provide an opportunity for the applicant to address his or
her concerns. Where however the issue is not one that arises in this context,
such a duty may arise. This is often the case where the credibility, accuracy
or genuine nature of information submitted by the applicant in support of their
application is the basis of the visa officer's concern, as was the case in Rukmangathan,
and in John and Cornea cited by the Court in Rukmangathan,
above.
[24]
Also,
in Gedeon v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2004 FC
1245 at paragraphs 101-102:
Although the Applicant has the burden of proving that
she qualifies to come to Canada, this does not relieve the Visa Officer of the
duty to act fairly. This Court has stated on numerous occasions that, while a
decision maker is not required to refer explicitly, or to analyse, every item
before it in evidence that tends to negate a finding of fact, “much depends
upon the relevancy and cogency of the evidence, and upon its importance to the
ultimate decision on the fact to which the evidence relates,” to borrow the
words of Mr. Justice Rouleau in Toth v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration), [2002] F.C.J. No. 1518 (T.D.).
In the present case, the Officer should have dealt
clearly in the Decision or the CAIPS notes with his reasons for rejecting the
employer's description of the Applicant's experience and responsibilities in Lebanon and should have given the Applicant the opportunity to address the concerns he had
in this regard. Not to do so was a reviewable error.
[25]
The
Applicant submits that if the Officer had concerns about the evidence in the application,
he or she had a duty to give the Applicant an opportunity to respond. The
Applicant was not aware there was a problem with the documentation, and none of
the Officer’s concerns were raised with the Applicant.
[26]
As
stated in Liao v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration),
[2000] FCJ No 1926 at paragraph 17, the “duty to inform the applicant will be
fulfilled if the visa officer adopts an appropriate line of questioning or
makes reasonable inquiries which give the applicant the opportunity to respond
to the visa officer’s concerns.”
[27]
The
Applicant submits that his case is similar to the situation in Kuhathasan,
above, where the Court said at paragraphs 39-41:
In considering procedural fairness issues in the
present case, I think it has to be borne in mind that the Applicants were dealt
with under somewhat exceptional circumstances and that normal procedures had to
be adjusted. I see no real evidence that the Applicants had access to the
information they needed to satisfy all of the requirements under the Act. The
Respondent’s web-site instructions were published to tell applicants and those
helping them how to apply. Those instructions told the Applicants to use the
Federal Skilled Worker application form and also asked for a letter from a family
member in Canada offering financial assistance.
The fact is that the Applicants did all they were
asked to do and complied with the instructions that were posted on the
web-site. The Officer’s principal concern, as shown in the Decision, was
general financial viability, although the documentation suggests that there
were also peripheral credibility issues regarding the financial capabilities of
the Canadian relative.
Under the specific facts in this case, I cannot see
how the Applicants could have anticipated and addressed either the financial
viability issue, the peripheral credibility issues, or possible language
problems in advance. They did what they were told to do in accordance with the
instructions on the web-site. General financial viability was obviously a
crucial issue in the Decision. On these facts, fairness required the Officer to
give the Applicants some kind of opportunity to address her concerns. There is
no evidence before me to suggest that, had the Applicants been given such an opportunity,
they could not have satisfied the Officer's concerns. The Principal Applicant
is an established professional and he has also indicated various other
connections and resources he can tap into for financial support.
[28]
The
Applicant also relies upon Sekhon v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration), 2012 FC 700 where Justice James O’Reilly had the following to
say at paragraphs 12-14:
Mr. Sekhon’s submissions were directed to the
officer’s concerns about whether the school was carrying on business at the
stated address. The parents’ letters and photographs were aimed at meeting
those concerns, and further documentation was provided regarding the school’s
finances. But Mr. Sekhon could not have met the officer’s other unstated
concerns because he was not made aware of them.
Accordingly, I find that Mr. Sekhon was not given a
fair opportunity to meet the officer’s concerns about the shortcomings of his
application.
The officer did not give Mr. Sekhon a chance to meet
her real concerns about his application. Therefore, he was not treated fairly.
Accordingly, I must allow this application for judicial review and order a
reassessment of Mr. Sekhon’s application by another officer…
[29]
The
Applicant submits that, based on the above, the Officer had a duty to advise
the Applicant of the problems with the application and give him an opportunity
to respond. As this was not done, the Applicant’s rights of procedural fairness
were breached.
The
Respondent
[30]
On
29 November 2008, the Government of Canada published in the Canada Gazette
instructions issued under subsection 87.3 of the Act that in order to have an
application processed, it must first be determined whether an application is
eligible for processing. On 15 June 2009, Citizenship and Immigration Canada
issued the publicly available Operational Bulletin 120 (OB 120) that provides
“visa officers with additional guidance on making final determinations of
eligibility for processing of federal skilled worker (FSW) files referred from
the Centralized Intake Office in Sydney.”
The
Reasonableness of the Decision
[31]
The
Court has established that the onus is on the Applicant to submit a clear and
complete application, and to satisfy the Officer that he has met all the
requirements of his application (Prasad v Canada (Minister of Citizenship
and Immigration), [1996] FCJ No 453 (TD)). There is no general obligation
on visa officers to request clarification from an applicant (Lam v Canada
(Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1998] FCJ No 1239).
[32]
In
this case, the Applicant provided five reference letters, none of which
described the duties actually performed by him. Therefore, the Respondent
submits it was open to the Officer to find that the Applicant had not
demonstrated that he performed the duties described in the lead statement of
NOC 1111.
[33]
The
Officer did not ignore evidence. The Applicant’s documentary evidence was
specifically considered, including his Schedule 3, and found to be insufficient
to establish that he had the requisite experience under NOC 1111. The
Respondent submits that in light of OB 120, above, and the concerns the Officer
had with the letters submitted by the Applicant, this was a reasonable finding.
It was open to the Officer to find that there was insufficient evidence to
demonstrate the Applicant’s work experience (Elisha v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2012 FC 520).
[34]
The
Court said at paragraphs 9-10 of Rodrigues v Canada (Minister of Citizenship
and Immigration), 2009 FC 111:
In the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in Noman
v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [2002] F.C.J. No.
1568, 2002 FCT 1169, while the Court outlined that an applicant was not
required to perform all of the main duties in a NOC job category; they did
require that an applicant perform a few -- meaning more than one.
The real function of the visa officer is to
determine what is the pith and substance of the work performed by an applicant.
Tangential performance of one or more functions under one or more job
categories does not convert the job or the functions from one NOC category to
another.
[35]
The
Applicant failed to satisfy the Officer that he had the requisite experience
under NOC 111, and has not demonstrated any errors in the Officer’s Decision.
[36]
Further,
contrary to the Applicant’s submissions, the Respondent submits that the
Officer did provide reasons for the Decision (Newfoundland Nurses,
above, at paragraphs 14-23). In the CAIPS notes, the Officer explained that he
or she was not satisfied that the Applicant had the requisite work experience.
Procedural Fairness
[37]
The
Respondent points out that procedural fairness in the context of a permanent
residence application is at the low end of the spectrum (Patel v Canada
(Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2002 FCA 55 at paragraph 10) and
the Officer was not under a duty to provide the Applicant with an opportunity
to address his or her concerns with the application.
[38]
In
deciding what the duty of fairness entails, the Court must be careful to
balance the requirements of fairness with the need of the administrative
immigration process in question (Khan v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration), 2001 FCA 345 at paragraphs 30-32). This is an administrative
decision, and thus the duty of fairness is more limited than one involving a
quasi-judicial tribunal (Khan).
[39]
The
Officer is under no obligation to provide a running score to the Applicant of
the weaknesses in his application (Kamchibekov v Canada (Minister of
Citizenship and Immigration), 2011 FC 1411 at paragraph 25). The question
of whether the Applicant has the relevant experience required for the
profession in which he claims to be a skilled worker is based directly on the
requirements of the Act and its Regulations (Chen v Canada (Minister of
Citizenship and Immigration), 2011 FC 1279 at paragraphs 20-22). Thus, the
Respondent submits that the Officer was not required to provide the Applicant
with an opportunity to respond to the Officer’s concerns, just as he was not
entitled to an interview to remedy his own shortcomings (Kaur v Canada
(Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2010 FC 442).
The
Applicant’s Reply
[40]
The
Applicant maintains that the deficiency in the Officer’s reasons constitutes a
breach of procedural fairness. The Applicant further maintains that the letters
indicate that he held the position of accountant for years, and thus he must
have performed the duties listed in NOC 1111 – this was ignored by the Officer.
The Applicant says that he could not have maintained his employment as an
accountant for 15 years without performing some or all of the duties outlined
in the Schedule 3.
[41]
The
Applicant further maintains that the Officer did have a duty to give him an
opportunity to address any concerns with his application. This is not a case
where the Applicant failed to adduce sufficient evidence; the Applicant adduced
the evidence and the Officer had concerns with it. The Applicant submits that
the jurisprudence put forward in his arguments supports this position.
ANALYSIS
[42]
As
the CAIPS notes make clear, the reasons why the application was refused was
because the Officer was not satisfied that the Applicant had provided
sufficient evidence of having one year of experience in NOC 1111. The Officer
was not satisfied that the Applicant had performed the actions described in the
lead statement as set out in the occupation description for NOC 1111 or that
the Applicant had performed all of the essential duties and a substantial
number of the main duties as set out in the occupational descriptions for NOC
1111. The Officer was not satisfied that the main duties performed by the
Applicant in his employment reflected the main duties set out in NOC 1111. The
Officer found that the employment letters submitted by the Applicant in support
of his application did not give any descriptions of the duties performed by the
Applicant in these jobs. In other words, the application was deficient and did
not contain the information that the Applicant was instructed to provide. The
Applicant’s application was determined to be ineligible for processing.
[43]
The
Decision was made in accordance with the relevant Ministerial Instructions in
the Canada Gazette and with Operational Bulletin 120 which are public
documents and available to applicants, as well as Regulation 80(3). The
Applicant appears to think that the deficiencies in his application (i.e. his
failure to provide employer’s letters that comply with the mandated
requirements and details) can be disregarded and that his application should
have been assessed on the basis of what he thinks was sufficient evidence of
his past experience.
[44]
As
Justice Yvon Pinard confirmed in Kamchibekov, above, at paragraph 18:
The respondent is right to emphasize that we are in the context of
an eligibility determination where visa officers are told to assess an
applicant’s application as-is and proceed directly to a final determination of
eligibility in a timely fashion (see Operational Bulletin 120, above).
Therefore, the officer’s decision is consistent with these guidelines. The
applicant has not established that the officer erred in considering the
evidence before him.
[45]
In
the present case, the Applicant provided an incomplete and deficient
application even though he was fully aware, or reasonably ought to have been,
of what was required. Justice Richard Mosley’s words in Elisha, above, at
paragraphs 10-13, are instructive:
The
applicant was provided with specific instructions as to how to complete her
application. These are set out in the Overseas Processing Manual OP 6 and the
Visa Office Specific Instructions, Buffalo, dated November 2010. The
instructions include requirements for the information to be included in the
reference letters provided by employers. As the employment letters did not
contain the necessary information, the applicant sought to rectify the deficit
by providing a written explanation. In such cases, the Buffalo instructions
state, the applicant must also provide documentation such as employment
contracts, work descriptions and performance appraisals describing job duties
to support the claim to relevant employment.
Here, the
applicant did not provide any supporting documentation in relation to her work
at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, other than her identity card, and her
employment at the Duke University Hospital.
The onus was
on the applicant to file her application with all relevant supporting
documentation and to provide sufficient credible evidence in support: Karanja v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration),
2006 FC 574 at para 8; and Oladipo v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2008 FC 366 at para 24. She must
put her “best case forward”. That was simply not done.
In the
result, the decision to dismiss the application was well within the range of
acceptable outcomes defensible in respect of the facts and law: Dunsmuir v New Brunswick, 2008 SCC 90 at para 47.
[46]
Given
the materials submitted by the Applicant and the relevant assessment
instructions, I cannot say it was unreasonable for the Officer to conclude that
the Applicant had not demonstrated that he had performed the main duties set
out in NOC 1111. The Officer gives full reasons for this conclusion, and there
is no indication that the Officer ignored any of the evidence in the
Applicant’s submissions.
[47]
As
regards any procedural fairness requirement, I think the Respondent correctly
states the law on this matter. The Officer was not required to put any concerns
to the Applicant in the present case. The Officer found that the documentation
submitted by the Applicant was deficient and there was insufficient evidence to
demonstrate that the Applicant had the one-year work experience for the NOC
code under which he applied.
[48]
The
content of procedural fairness is variable and contextual. In deciding what the
duty of fairness entails, with respect to visa applicants, the Courts have been
careful to balance the requirements of fairness with the needs of the
administrative immigration process in question. See Baker v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 817, paragraph 21; Patel,
above, at paragraph 10; and Khan, above, at paragraphs 22, 30-32.
[49]
The
duty of fairness in this case, involving an administrative decision-maker, is
more limited than in one involving a quasi-judicial tribunal where the
obligation to confront an applicant with concerns may be more stringent. See Khan,
above, paragraphs 31-32. The Federal Court has held that the Officer is under
no obligation to provide a running score of weaknesses in an applicant’s
application. See Kamchibekov, above, paragraph 25; Thandal v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) 2008 FC 489, paragraph 9; Nabin v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2008 FC 200, paragraphs 7-10.
[50]
The
question of whether the Applicant has the relevant experience required for the
profession in which he claims to be a skilled worker is based directly on the
requirements of the Act and its Regulations. See Chen, above, at
paragraphs 20-22. Thus, the Officer was not required to provide the Applicant
with an opportunity to respond to the Officer’s concerns, as he was not
entitled to an interview to remedy his own shortcomings. See Kamchibekov,
above, at paragraph 26; and Kaur, above.
[51]
This
was not a case about the credibility or accuracy of the Applicant’s
information, as the Applicant alleges. The Applicant simply failed to provide
an application in accordance with the relevant instructions, and the Officer properly
followed OB 120.
[52]
Neither
party proposed a serious question of general importance for certification.
JUDGMENT
THIS
COURT’S JUDGMENT is that
1.
The
application is dismissed.
2.
There
is no question for certification.
“James Russell”