2015-02-04 | 2015 FC 141 | IMM-4550-13

Song v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)

Principles Established

1. An applicant for Canadian Experience class permanent residency cannot be rejected merely because his employment experience does not match the exact wording of the required employment duties listed in the National Occupation Classification [NOC].
2. Such an application also cannot be rejected merely because the applicant’s previous employment experience failed to include one of the duties listed under the NOC.

Facts

Song applied for judicial review of the decision of a visa officer to reject his application for permanent residency as a member of the Canadian Experience Class. He had applied under the National Occupation Classification of Retail and Wholesale Trade Manager.

The officer rejected Song’s application because he did not meet the skilled work experience requirement. Song had provided a letter outlining his duties as storefront manager at a Toronto pharmacy but the visa officer argued that the duties listed in the letter did not specifically match the duties required under the NOC. Furthermore, the officer argued that Song’s letter had failed to mention that Song had studied competitors’ sales operations, which is one of the requirements duties listed under the NOC.

Decision

The Federal Court found the officer’s decision to have been unreasonable for two reasons. Firstly, the Court opined that an applicant’s written employment experience does not have to match the exact wording of the duties listed under the NOC in order to meet the experience requirement. Secondly, the Court opined that if an applicant’s written employment experience does not include one of the required duties, his application should not automatically be disqualified.

Song’s work experience was deemed by the Court to have satisfied all relevant requirements under the NOC except for the requirement concerning competitor’s sales operations.

The court thus quashed the officer’s rejection of Song’s application and returned the application for reconsideration by another officer.