Last Updated on September 3, 2014

Operational Bulletin 442 (Modified) – August 12, 2014

Cessation of Processing and Return of Fees for Certain Federal Skilled Worker Applications

Summary

In the past, people submitted applications under the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program. Officers processed the applications submitted since February 27, 2008. Effective June 29, 2012, the authorities ceased the processing of certain applications. Typically, these applications came under the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program.

As a result, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) would need to return the fees paid to them. The affected applicants paid these fees for the processing of the affected applications. The CIC would return these fees to the person who paid them. This is in accordance with the prescribed law.

Issue

The authorities have taken the decision to terminate certain Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program applications made prior to February 27, 2008. The authorities took this decision in accordance with the amendments made to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). The authorities also enacted these amendments as part of the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act. These amendments came into effect on June 29, 2012.

This Operational Bulletin (OB) provides instructions to officers on the steps they need to take for terminating certain applications. These applications came under the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program.

Background

The Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act resulted in removing the majority of the backlog in the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program. It achieved this by:

• Terminating applications and,
• Returning the fees paid to the CIC by certain Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program applicants, who had applied prior to February 27, 2008

Once the provisions of the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act came into effect on June 29, 2012, the officers received the legal authorisation for terminating certain Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program applications.

In the past, a foreign national could submit an application for a permanent resident visa as a member of the prescribed class of federal skilled workers. However, officers could terminate these applications, if these applications:

• Were made prior to February 27, 2008 and,
• Resulted in officers not being able to establish  before March 29, 2012 (according to the prescribed regulations), whether the applicant:
• Met the selection criteria and,
• Met the other requirements applicable to that specific class

The Processing Instructions

The visa offices would need to stop processing certain Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program applications made prior to February 27, 2008. They would need to comply with the following instructions.

Note:

• The visa office would not need to take any further action at this time for certain applications, which officers have terminated in accordance with the prescribed instructions given in the table above

The Process for Establishing that the Authorities Have Made a Decision as to Whether the Applicant Meets the Selection Criteria

The Process for Establishing that the Authorities Have Made a Final Decision

Officers would consider that the authorities have made a final decision, if the authorities:

• Enter a decision in the processing system as:
• “FINDEC” in the Computer-Assisted Immigration Processing System (CAIPS) or
• “Final  – Approved” or “Final – Refused” in the GCMS OR,
• State clearly in the file notes that the final decision has been rendered, but the decision has not been entered in the processing system

The Process of Returning the Fees Paid to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)

File Retention

The authorities would need to retain the files and supporting documentations. These documents would be associated with terminated applications belonging to the:

• The federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP)
• The federal Entrepreneur (EN) program and,
• Federal Skilled Workers (FSW)

Hence, the authorities would prioritise all the files and supporting documentation associated with all the terminated applications for repatriation to Canada. They would repatriate these documents to Canada before March 31, 2015.

The staff would package all terminated files separately from all the other files that they are repatriating to Canada. In addition, they would label the boxes bearing the terminated files with the word “Terminated”. They would also provide the estimated costs by cost item (EMLES, courier etc.). They would provide these details to the IR Mission Support. The IR Mission Support would assign these expenses with a special allocation coding. This coding would make it easier for the officers to track all the expenses associated with this exercise.

The Federal Court Challenge to Section 87.4 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA)

There are certain amendments stated in Section 87.4 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). These concern the termination of Federal Skilled Workers (FSW) program applications. These amendments are subject to litigation. The result of these litigations could affect the manner in which officers terminate Federal Skilled Workers (FSW) program applications in the future. 

In this scenario, the authorities would provide further information as the litigation progresses. Officers would need to contact the OMC Branch for obtaining more information on the changes outlined in this Operational Bulletin (OB).

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)