Zumy Loly said:
Dear Sir,
This refers to recent correspondence received at our office requesting reconsideration of your application for Permanent Residence in Canada as a Federal Skilled Worker.
Your application for permanent residence in Canada was carefully considered by an officer according to the applicable sections of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and you were sent a letter containing the full reasons for refusing your application. The decision was made based on the information on file at that time. You were sent a letter explaining the assessment, thereby concluding the assessment of your application.
You were not granted any points for your relative in Canada because you did not provide any documentation on your application demonstrating that you are related to her and the documentation that you provided demonstrating residency did not demonstrate that she is resident in Canada.
Should you have different information to submit or if you meet the requirements of a different immigration category, you can consider submitting a new application. For up-to-date information on how to apply for permanent residence in Canada, visit the website at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp.
Did you order your CAIPS/GCMS notes? If not, you really should do so as they will tell you more than their letter did.
Your only options are to either reapply (as they suggested) - assuming you can qualify in some category, or you may challenge the decision in Federal Court. Note that you must initiate an application for judicial review within 60 days (although because they answered you, it's 60 days from the date of their letter to you - that's why they normally won't answer you.)
To prevail in court you would have to show that the decision the officer reached with the information in front of them was unreasonable (this is "fairness") or that there was an error in law. In either case, it is very unlikely that you will prevail without the use of an attorney with experience in immigration litigation.
From their letter (which is likely based upon a generic template) it sounds like they weren't convinced this was your sister (since the other evidence you provided would seem to reasonably support residency). If your birth certificates show the same parents, that would certainly be a reasonable argument, as would an affidavit from her supporting this conclusion. In addition, if HER application listed you as a sibling, that would ALSO be convincing (although they might argue that evidence was not before the officer, given that if the officer had doubts the office could have checked your sister's file the court probably wouldn't accept that as an excuse - I'm not really familiar with the case law in this area, though, so perhaps the burden falls entirely upon you.)
I am very surprised that if the officer had doubts they didn't ask you to provide additional evidence - an outright rejection of this type seems unreasonable under the circumstances (some evidence provided).
I am sorry they rejected your application. Having been rejected myself I know it is deeply discouraging. Going to court is not an easy path either, as it is expensive and similarly exhausting (the process can take 6-12 months or longer just to obtain a decision.)
Regardless of what you decide, good luck!
