Immigration Blog

The following are statistics on H&C approval rates based on whether the person was removed before the decision. Here are processing stats as of October 2024.

The principle of functus officio is based upon the finality of judgments and jurisdiction that once a formal decision is rendered, signed and communicated to the parties it cannot be re-opened. The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Chandler v. Alberta Association of Architects,  [1989] 2 S.C.R. 848, is the leading case on functus officio.  There, Justice Sopinka wrote that: As a general rule, once such a tribunal has reached a final decision in respect to the matter that is before it in accordance with its enabling statute, that decision cannot be revisited because the tribunal has changed its mind, made an error within jurisdiction or because there has been a change of circumstances. It can only do so if authorized by statute or if there has been a slip or error within the exceptions enunciated in Paper Machinery Ltd. v. J. O. Ross Engineering Corp., supra. To this extent, the principle of functus officio applies. It is based, however, on the policy ground which favours finality of proceedingsrather than the rule which was developed with respect to formal judgments of a court whose decision was subject to a full appeal. For this reason I am of the opinion that its application must be more flexible and less formalistic … Read More

In this episode, we break down IRCC’s practice of rejecting applications for incompleteness, often for minor technical issues. Effectively a form of stats manipulation, this practice creates a misleading picture of departmental efficiency while leaving applicants stranded, often forcing them to restart the process for trivial errors.

The following is a memo to the minister on the introduction of category based draws. Here is another Memorandum to the Minister on adding Education specific draws. IRCC IMMReps E-mails  

Misty Ty is a documentary film maker. Her father, Robert Ty, was the owner of a shipping company whose cargo ship, The Tung An, encountered a fishing vessel with over 200 people. Misty Ty was one of the children on that boat. The Vietnamese Boat People were refugees who fled Vietnam by sea after the fall of Saigon in 1975, escaping communist rule and persecution. Over one million people would flee. Several hundred thousand would perish due to storms, starvation, pirate attacks, and overcrowded boats. In response to the humanitarian crisis, Canada would introduce its private refugee sponsorship program, and resettle tens of thousands of Indochinese. Misty’s website for the project is thetungan.com. She would love to hear from anyone who was on, or whose relatives were on, the Tung An.

  Martin Levine was a Visa Officer and Analyst at Citizenship and Immigration Canada from 1978 – 2009. He then worked as a contract employee as an ATIP Analyst for numerous federal departments. He previously appeared on Episodes #108 and #110. Towards the end of episode #110 Martin commented that he thought the immigration consultant profession shouldn’t exist. Steven said that this was a huge topic and probably deserved its own episode. In this episode Martin explains why he believes that Canada should abolish the immigration consultant profession. Steven and Deanna disagree. Numerous arguments and counter arguments are discussed.