Thirty-eight people from the UAE have joined a legal fight against the Canadian immigration service to retain their dream of one day living in the West.
They are among 400 people from the Gulf and the Subcontinent who were thwarted by the retrospective introduction of Canada's new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
Surenda K. Sood, Branch Director of Worldwide Immigration Consultancy Services (WWICS), says his company has hired top lawyers to spearhead the class action suit against Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).
These lawyers include Timothy Leahy, head of a team that won a previous landmark suit against the Canadian Government. In Dragon vs CIC, the Federal Court of Canada set a precendent when it ruled that applicants must be considered for entry into Canada under the act and rules in force at the time of their application.
Victory for the latest applicants will ensure fair assessment according to the rules in place at the time they applied.
There were approximately 177,000 immigration applicants between January 1 2002 and June 28 2002, when the new IPRA rules became effective. IPRA places a greater emphasis on employment adaptability, and includes such factors as English (or French) language proficiency, spouse's education and previous work experience in Canada.
"We are confident that with sincere efforts, we will enable hundreds of thousands of applicants for Canadian immigration to realise their dreams," Sood said.
"The CIC has not only been grossly unfair to these applicants but has also gobbled up C$125 million which was taken in payment for processing visas which would never be granted to these unfortunate people."
He added that CIC had not only changed the assessment grid to make it more difficult to qualify, but had also applied new the assessment retrospectively.
"This disqualified thousands with one stroke," said Sood. "It is like seeing someone stand in a queue for hours and then paying money at a box office, only to be shown a board saying 'house full'."
More than 4,500 applicants from around the world have joined legal action against CIC.
Gulf News
