Judicial Review Cases - Incompleteness finding
Kaur v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2022 FC 1690
Case Overview:
Applicant: Kulwinder Kaur
Respondent: The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Issue: Judicial review of an IRCC decision rejecting Kaur's permanent residence application under the TR to PR Pathway for International Graduates.
Background:
Policy: The TR to PR Pathway allowed temporary residents with certain educational credentials in Canada to apply for permanent residence between May 6, 2021, and November 5, 2021.
Application: Kaur applied on August 24, 2021, but mistakenly uploaded the wrong document in place of her educational credentials.
Initial Review: On September 29, 2021, the application was marked incomplete for missing educational documents.
Correction: Kaur notified IRCC of the mistake on October 6, 2021, and submitted the correct documents.
Decision: On October 14, 2021, an officer refused the application for being incomplete, despite the correct documents being in the file by then.
Reconsideration Request: A reconsideration request was refused on November 9, 2021.
Legal Issues:
Reasonableness of the Decision: Whether the decision was internally coherent, rational, and justified based on the facts and law.
Procedural Fairness: Whether Kaur had a fair chance to respond and knew the case she had to meet.
Court's Analysis:
The court found the decision unreasonable because the officer failed to consider the corrected documents, which were submitted before the final decision date.
The court noted that the decision lacked transparency and justification, particularly given the temporary and time-sensitive nature of the TR to PR Pathway.
The court emphasized that the officer should have either treated the corrected documents as part of the application or explained why they couldn't be considered, allowing Kaur to resubmit within the timeline.
Judgment:
The court allowed the judicial review, set aside the officer's decision, and remitted the matter back for redetermination by a different officer with all documents considered.
No question of general importance was certified.
Regards,
Rema and Rebecca
