Federal Skilled Worker Class Action Lawsuit

[Buttercup]

Thank you for posting this avijitsg. Much appreciated.

Fingers crossed

 

[warmest]

CHC New Delhi office is sending notice of termination to all litigant fils which were filed after June 14th 2012 and for those which are filed prior to june 14 are not such notice.This means files which are covered for litigation befor june 14 are not affected by the law.But the mute question is some of the files are of 2006 year.The judgement in this case will be very interesting to watch.ALL MUST WATCH

What is the source of your information?

Are you a litigant? Did you receive the 'notice of termination' from CHC New Delhi office?

 

[Knight_Crusader]

Dear all,
From bellissimolawgroup.com

Quote:

January 28, 2013

Dear All,

Although we cannot comment on the details of the legal arguments given this matter is active before the Federal Court, we will continue to update you on the progress of the matter.

Source: http://www.bellissimolawgroup.com/arguments-in-class-proceedings-begins-january-14th-930-a-m-est

exactly what i had said few pages ago, the matter is sub-judice, so they cant disclose much. what they have disclosed so far about the proceedings is also not right, according to me.

 

[warmest]

Immigration Canada to lure foreign entrepreneurs with prize of permanent residency

Nicholas Keung, Immigration Reporter, Published on Thursday January 24, 2013

Ottawa hopes to lure innovative entrepreneurs from abroad to Canada by offering them permanent residency.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Thursday the move will put Canada ahead of its competitors, such as Australia, the United Kingdom and United States, where entrepreneurs are offered only temporary residency, and their ultimate status hinges on business success.

“Our new Start-Up Visa will help make Canada the destination of choice for the world’s best and brightest to launch their companies,” said Kenney, who is planning a trip to Silicon Valley, the world’s start-up capital, to find foreign entrepreneurs looking for a permanent home.

“Recruiting dynamic entrepreneurs from around the world will help Canada remain competitive in the global economy.”

The new program, which will accept applications starting April 1, will link immigrant entrepreneurs with private sector organizations in Canada that offer support and resources for their ideas. Candidates must be sponsored by Canadian investors.

Review panels struck by Citizenship and Immigration will assess the applicants.

In addition to a sound business plan, applicants must meet an intermediate language requirement in English or French, possess one year of post-secondary education and pass the necessary medical and criminal checks.

Kenney said the five-year pilot program will accept 2,750 applications a year and be made permanent if the government is satisfied with the results. Applications are expected to be processed within one year.

“Canada’s future relies on today’s entrepreneurs,” said Kenney.

The initiative is an evolutionary leap from Canada’s archaic entrepreneur program, which had been in place since the 1970s by offering conditional residency to foreign entrepreneurs who opened mall kiosks, corner stores and small businesses.

Immigrant entrepreneurs admitted to Canada dropped sharply to 184 in 2011, down from 1,176 in 2002. In anticipating Thursday’s changes, the government stopped accepting new applications in July to control the existing backlog in the federal entrepreneur program. There are no plans to lift the moratorium.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1319738--immigration-canada-to-lure-foreign-entrepreneurs-with-prize-of-permanent-residency

 

[warmest]

Immigration backlog: Anti-fraud measures add years to citizenship process

Nicholas Keung, Immigration Reporter, Published on Thursday January 24, 2013

Extra scrutiny introduced by Ottawa to crack down on citizenship fraud means thousands of immigrants will have to wait as long as nine years to become full-fledged citizens.

Until recently, immigrants with permanent resident status had to wait three years before filing a citizenship application, which would then take about 21 months to process in routine cases — for a total of about five years.

Last May, the federal government introduced a more rigorous “residence questionnaire” for some applicants, to establish proof that they’ve actually been present in Canada. Applicants were told the detailed four-page forms — which must be accompanied by proof such as tax returns, pay stubs, and airline tickets to document even brief absences — would take 15 months to process.

But this month, those applicants are learning they’ll have to wait four more years to get their files assessed.

Mana Golnazi, a Toronto engineer who came here from Iran in 2008, calls the process “frustrating.”

“We feel like we are held hostage by the government,” she said.

Golnazi, 33, was asked to fill out the questionnaire after she passed the citizenship test in July. She was shocked when she called to get an update on her application and was told she’d have to wait 48 months.

“I went to school here. I work hard. I pay taxes. I volunteer in the community. I am a good citizen. Where’s my rights after all these years?” said Golnazi, an IT business analyst.

“I can’t vote in the system that I’ve been contributing to. I do what good citizens do, but they don’t want to give me the same rights.”

Many citizenship applicants have expressed similar frustration and anger about the delay on online forums.

Golnazi — an avid volunteer for The Weekend to End Women’s Cancer, the Terry Fox Run and the Salvation Army — said she has been out of Canada only twice since her arrival, for a total of 28 days. She took a vacation to England and visited her mother, who was battling cancer in Tehran.

Applicants can travel outside Canada, but need to obtain visas with the passport of their home country, which can be inconvenient and costly.

According to the immigration department, about 60,000 citizenship applications were referred for further examination between May 7 and Sept. 28, 2012. Of those applicants, 11,000 were asked to fill out the questionnaires.

“When a residence questionnaire and further investigations are involved, it is no longer routine ... The time needed to process non-routine cases varies from one case to another,” said department spokesperson Paul Northcott, adding that officials don’t keep track of the processing time of these cases.

Officials could not say how they decide which applicants must complete the questionnaire. Neither could they provide statistics on the rate of acceptance or rejection for those who fill it out.

Alexis Pavlich, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s spokesperson, said the Conservative government has admitted a higher number of permanent residents each year than the previous Liberal government, which has put pressure on citizenship processing times.

“Our government is committed to protecting the value of Canadian citizenship, which is why we are cracking down on residency and citizenship fraud,” Pavlich said in an email.

“This increased scrutiny has produced longer wait times in some cases, but will result in a cleaner, faster system in the long run.”

MP Kevin Lamoureux, the Liberals’ immigration critic, said there are more than 300,000 permanent residents with citizenship applications in the backlog.

“These processing times are totally unacceptable. We have thousands of potential citizens who are being denied the right to vote,” he said.

Palestinian immigrant Wael Saadeddin Gharbiyeh was sponsored to Canada by his Canadian wife in 2000. He passed his citizenship test in April 2010 but was handed the residence questionnaire after an officer questioned him about having an expired passport from Jordan.

Gharbiyeh, who has a degree in accounting and finance from the South Illinois University Carbondale, calls the immigration department regularly for updates. Last August, he was told it would take 15 months for his file to be assessed.

When he called again in early January, the department said the wait time now stands at 48 months.

“I feel betrayed. They can’t put my life on hold like this,” said the Toronto father of two. “We are not asking to jump the queue, nor are we asking to be granted citizenship without scrutiny. What we are asking for is a reasonable time frame for the processing of our citizenship applications.”

Each year, 160,000 people receive Canadian citizenship. But the refusal rate has crept up over the past five years, from 1.4 per cent to 3.5 per cent. Besides passing the citizenship test, applicants must have basic command of English or French, and no criminal record.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1319286--immigration-backlog-anti-fraud-measures-add-years-to-citizenship-process

 

[noon]

CHC New Delhi office is sending notice of termination to all litigant fils which were filed after June 14th 2012 and for those which are filed prior to june 14 are not such notice.This means files which are covered for litigation befor june 14 are not affected by the law.But the mute question is some of the files are of 2006 year.The judgement in this case will be very interesting to watch.ALL MUST WATCH

hopeful,
Have you come across any body who got such a notice? Pls confirm.

 

[hopefulever]

Yes it is entered in my court case records.I litigate in Oct 2012.

 

[noon]

hopefulever,
which is your AOR?
What is your ecase status?
what is written on your court status?
have you recd. any letter or email from CIC this month?
Pls reply

 

[warmest]

If I remember correctly, for the second litigation group, Rotenberg is filing cases accepted through CanadaClassAction.com, but they update clients using either Bellissimo or Cohen -- I forget which one. I believe Cohen has consolidated his cases with Bellissimo, and it seems that only Waldman does not have any consolidation (if so, probably because of the differing opinion regarding the injunction). And that is why there are still two representative cases. I'm not a lawyer, but just putting two and two together based on available web material.

farmerofthedell: Can you please elaborate on the last part of your posting "Passing through the backloggers' FB group to file with Rotenberg is an entirely different matter though, and until I see the group leader's name on the list of litigants, I would prefer not to rock that boat."?

annel: I believe that what you believe in is what will happen. Your lawyer might not have had the complete information when you asked, which is why a differing opinion from what some of us (including you and me) believe. Fact is, if you have not gotten any requests for update from CIC, and consequently have not submitted any updates, CIC would have considered your file closed through s.87.4. When the docket says "no reasons", it means no reasons for no decision having been made by CIC, or no reasons needed because it was closed by s.87.4.

As for annel's email to Tim, I don't think Tim refused the case. More a matter of ethics, I'm sure. Get advice from the person you designated to represent you.

warmest: Better to wait until I see his name filed before explaining. Nothing to do with how it's being run though.

farmerofthedell: The FB group leader's name is RAKESH KUMAR GARG and his Court Number is IMM-11032-12. His lawyer is Cecil L. Rotenberg. Now, can you explain?

 

[wounderful]

Dear Warmest:

Can you shed some light or if you have asked Tim that while he was not part of Jan 14-16, 2013 hearing what is the status of his applicants and what kind of proceeding he will do apart from it. He was filing so many motions what are the status of them.

 

[warmest]

Dear Warmest:

Can you shed some light or if you have asked Tim that while he was not part of Jan 14-16, 2013 hearing what is the status of his applicants and what kind of proceeding he will do apart from it. He was filing so many motions what are the status of them.

Now the ball is in the court of the Court (Federal Court of Canada). It is for Justice Rennie to play the shot. On seeing of how Justice Rennie plays his shot, Tim Leahy will decide accordingly of how to play his own shot. As of now, Tim (meaning, we litigants whom he represents) has nothing to lose and everything to gain. The twists and turns of the game are spectacular and the game is getting interesting as it progresses. Enjoy watching the game, guys. Cheers. ;D

 

[farmerofthedell]

farmerofthedell: The FB group leader's name is RAKESH KUMAR GARG and his Court Number is IMM-11032-12. His lawyer is Cecil L. Rotenberg. Now, can you explain?

This does deserve an explanation. For the few months prior to the availability of Mr. Garg's court number, at least one person in another forum had been insisting that Mr. Garg was not a litigant and had a different agenda (allegedly a percentage of the fees) from the rest of the litigants. I did see Mr. Garg's file when it became available, including CHC's advise back to the registry a few weeks later, which confirms that his file does exist, so for me everything on that matter is above board. Even if it is true that there is a cut, that is a small price to pay for the coordinating work that he does for those files and for the special rate that he obtained (why pay $500 when you can pay $100 less?). I cannot be against that because someone here in the Philippines was charging $1,650 to join Mr. Rotenberg's group, and hiring your own lawyer would cost much, much more.

 

[tuyen]

Now the ball is in the court of the Court (Federal Court of Canada). It is for Justice Rennie to play the shot. On seeing of how Justice Rennie plays his shot, Tim Leahy will decide accordingly of how to play his own shot.

Tim already played his shot in a brilliant way. He took your money and ran with it, legally. He didn't even have to do any work, and he still got paid. And now, if the court rules in favour of the litigants, then all of Tim's clients will benefit too, even though he did absolutely NOTHING for them in court.

Of all the lawyers in this case, he was undoubtedly the smartest of them all.

 

[warmest]

This does deserve an explanation. For the few months prior to the availability of Mr. Garg's court number, at least one person in another forum had been insisting that Mr. Garg was not a litigant and had a different agenda (allegedly a percentage of the fees) from the rest of the litigants. I did see Mr. Garg's file when it became available, including CHC's advise back to the registry a few weeks later, which confirms that his file does exist, so for me everything on that matter is above board. Even if it is true that there is a cut, that is a small price to pay for the coordinating work that he does for those files and for the special rate that he obtained (why pay $500 when you can pay $100 less?). I cannot be against that because someone here in the Philippines was charging $1,650 to join Mr. Rotenberg's group, and hiring your own lawyer would cost much, much more.

Thanks for the explanation and for clearing the air. Glad to know that you have a fairly good opinion about Garg. Though Garg is not part of my group, I know him well and some of his group members are my good friends and I have met most of them. Regarding the alleged 'cut', I can say for sure that there was no such cut and the allegation is total falsehood. In fact, Garg has spent a lot of his own money for doing this service.

 

[Knight_Crusader]

Tim already played his shot in a brilliant way. He took your money and ran with it, legally. He didn't even have to do any work, and he still got paid. And now, if the court rules in favour of the litigants, then all of Tim's clients will benefit too, even though he did absolutely NOTHING for them in court.

Of all the lawyers in this case, he was undoubtedly the smartest of them all.

+1