Many immigration programs, including the newly enacted Federal Skilled Trades Program, contain caps on the number of people who can apply. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC“) generally advises people that they should check the CIC website before submitting applications to make sure that the cap has not been exceeded. Unfortunately, CIC has also (successfully) argued in court that the information on their website is not reliable, and that the CIC website stating that the cap is unfilled does not create a legitimate expectation for applicants that the cap is in fact unfilled. In Agama v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2013 FC 135, an applicant was denied a permanent resident visa under the Skilled Workers Class (the “FSWC“). Under the FSWC, CIC considered a maximum of 500 applications in National Occupation Classification 0631 (“NOC 0631“) during the relevant year. CIC posted the following information on its website regarding how many NOC 0631 applications it had received: September 28, 2011 – 209 applications October 10, 2011 – 229 applications November 3, 2011 – 330 applications November 8, 2011 – 335 applications December 1, 2011 – 458 applications The applicant filed her application on November 14, 2011. Considering that the CIC website on December 1 … Read More