Would-be immigrants challenge Canada legally over cancelled applications

Canada, 18th May: Would-be immigrants who were robbed of a chance to come to Canada due to recent deletion of a huge immigration backlog are giving a legal challenge to the federal government.

Unfair decision-allege would-be immigrants, immigration lawyers--The move to axe away an immigration backlog of nearly 280,000 Canada visa applications filed before 2008 is invited anger and wrath from aspiring immigrants.

Representing some of Canada visa applicants, a group of immigration lawyers is working to prohibit Canadian government from eliminating Canada immigration backlog.

The group alleges the move is wholly unjustified since it involves the fate of those who have been anxiously and patiently waiting for a chance to come to Canada for several years.

According to a Toronto based immigration lawyer, Lorne Waldman, it is a sheer forfeiture of a promise made to applicants for no fault of theirs.

All these applicants who Canada visa applications were eliminated by the federal government to clear the immigration backlog had followed various requirements for coming to Canada, alleged Waldman. It’s immoral on the part of Canadian government to do so, says Waldman. For all those years, all these Canada visa applicants had been waiting in the immigration queue.

But, the decision by Canada immigration minister Jason Kenney seems to convey that although applicants were told by Canada to wait but now, there has been a change in their minds. So, the government has decided to end the immigration queue, laments Waldman.

Injunction against Bill C-38—Immigration lawyers including Waldman say they will be working to get an injunction when the government passes C-38 bill to prevent the legislation from coming into effect.

Bill C-38 is expected to be passed in June this year. Waldman has been approached by nearly 40 litigants from Hong Kong and China to slap a legal suit against the government for elimination of immigration backlog. He is hopeful of getting more applicants for enforcing a legal action against Ottawa.

Assurances from Government--The Conservative government, on the other hand, say the decision was a compulsion for modernizing the immigration process of Canada. Canada government announced the move in March this year.

Moreover, Ottawa maintained that foreigners whose applications were eliminated from the immigration backlog along with refund of fee will be eligible to reapply under new immigration rules.