JUDICIAL REVIEW TIMELINES

[anna2020]

Hello,

I applied for a visitor visa and got rejected and the reasons were very basic terminology in my opinion and not very relevant to my application. I believe the officer made a mistake and decided to go through the route of judicial review. I'm working with a lawyer from a good firm in Canada and we got the reasons in early March and then just as we were going to apply for judicial review, the courts got closed due to the coronavirus. I actually didn't know this would effect my application considering we don't have a court hearing until I heard from my lawyer today that they're not accepting any documents. Does anyone know when the courts will reopen in Ontario? Also, if anyone has experience with judicial review, how long did your application take? My application is not very complicated, just a visitor visa but i really don't know what will happen and how long it will take especially with this coronavirus.

 

[scylla]

Hello,

I applied for a visitor visa and got rejected and the reasons were very basic terminology in my opinion and not very relevant to my application. I believe the officer made a mistake and decided to go through the route of judicial review. I'm working with a lawyer from a good firm in Canada and we got the reasons in early March and then just as we were going to apply for judicial review, the courts got closed due to the coronavirus. I actually didn't know this would effect my application considering we don't have a court hearing until I heard from my lawyer today that they're not accepting any documents. Does anyone know when the courts will reopen in Ontario? Also, if anyone has experience with judicial review, how long did your application take? My application is not very complicated, just a visitor visa but i really don't know what will happen and how long it will take especially with this coronavirus.

The judicial review process typically takes around three months.

We don't know how long things are going to be shut down due to COVID-19. That's really anyone's guess. Right now courts are closed until the end of May. Urgent cases are still being heard but over video conference. Your class of case doesn't qualify as urgent and you will have to wait until the courts reopen. So right now you're looking at around a 2.5 month delay.

 

[anna2020]

My confusion is just, I don't have a court hearing yet we are just applying for judicial review. They don't accept documents for that? I'm very new to this process and I don't know all the steps

 

[scylla]

My confusion is just, I don't have a court hearing yet we are just applying for judicial review. They don't accept documents for that? I'm very new to this process and I don't know all the steps

Everything has been put on hold because most government workers are no longer at the office.

Basically you should be expecting that what was originally around a 3 month process to now take closer to 6 months to complete (this is assuming there are no further delays due to COVID-19). If you have further questions about the process, you should really be asking your lawyer.

Judicial reviews for visitor visa refusals are extremely rare. The vast majority of people reapply and put together a stronger application to overcome refusal reasons.

 

[anna2020]

Thank you for your response, this whole COVID-19 has really put a strain on everyone. Have you had experience with judicial review for visitor visa? Or do you know of anyone? I'm applying from Iran and recently they have been refusing everyone and giving the exact same refusal points. For instance they told me I have strong family ties in Canada when I don't have any family, and then they said I have weak family ties in Iran when all my family is in Iran. Furthermore, they said I didn't provide sufficient proof for purpose of visit when I included 8 pages of flight, itinerary, invitation letter and hotel bookings. Reading other peoples experiences, once you have a refusal they are bound to refuse you again. If i reapply again, I wouldn't know what else to put in my application as I feel those points were not valid.

 

[scylla]

Thank you for your response, this whole COVID-19 has really put a strain on everyone. Have you had experience with judicial review for visitor visa? Or do you know of anyone? I'm applying from Iran and recently they have been refusing everyone and giving the exact same refusal points. For instance they told me I have strong family ties in Canada when I don't have any family, and then they said I have weak family ties in Iran when all my family is in Iran. Furthermore, they said I didn't provide sufficient proof for purpose of visit when I included 8 pages of flight, itinerary, invitation letter and hotel bookings. Reading other peoples experiences, once you have a refusal they are bound to refuse you again. If i reapply again, I wouldn't know what else to put in my application as I feel those points were not valid.

It's hard to answer your questions without knowing your full profile and exactly what you included in your application. We often see people here who have applied for the first time and think they have a strong application, when the application was actually relatively weak and there are opportunities to strengthen before reapplying. The purpose of visit refusal reason typically means you didn't provide sufficient ties to your home country.

We would need to know the following:

- What proof of ties to your home country did you provide in your application? If proof of employment, what did you provide? Proof of property ownership? Anything else like that?
- How much did you show in available funds?
- How long a trip did you request?
- Who invited you to come to Canada? What is your relationship to this person?
- Do you have previous travel to countries requiring visas such as the UK, U.S., Australia, etc.?
- What are you family ties back in Iran? Are you leaving behind a spouse and/or children when you travel?

 

[expressentryqueen]

Thank you for your response, this whole COVID-19 has really put a strain on everyone. Have you had experience with judicial review for visitor visa? Or do you know of anyone? I'm applying from Iran and recently they have been refusing everyone and giving the exact same refusal points. For instance they told me I have strong family ties in Canada when I don't have any family, and then they said I have weak family ties in Iran when all my family is in Iran. Furthermore, they said I didn't provide sufficient proof for purpose of visit when I included 8 pages of flight, itinerary, invitation letter and hotel bookings. Reading other peoples experiences, once you have a refusal they are bound to refuse you again. If i reapply again, I wouldn't know what else to put in my application as I feel those points were not valid.

Hello Anna,

Just like you, my friend was denied a visitor's visa in February for flimsy reasons and we wrote a letter for reconsideration to the London visa office without any response. So he decided to file an application for judicial review in the Court. We were able to file it early March before the whole COVID crisis escalated and two weeks ago, received an offer to settle from IRCC's lawyers. We accepted the offer to settle and filed a Notice of Discontinuance this week. We've been told to wait for his application to be reopened.

He too had had a couple of study visa refusals in the past and it was obvious from the GCMS notes that the officers did not even review his visitor visa application before denying him.

 

[Sagittarius1982]

Hello Anna,

Just like you, my friend was denied a visitor's visa in February for flimsy reasons and we wrote a letter for reconsideration to the London visa office without any response. So he decided to file an application for judicial review in the Court. We were able to file it early March before the whole COVID crisis escalated and two weeks ago, received an offer to settle from IRCC's lawyers. We accepted the offer to settle and filed a Notice of Discontinuance this week. We've been told to wait for his application to be reopened.

He too had had a couple of study visa refusals in the past and it was obvious from the GCMS notes that the officers did not even review his visitor visa application before denying him.

Hi @expressentryqueen ,
You are very much right in regard to further refusals if you have previously rejected. Mostly the VO will not bother to look into your application if you were refused previously. The best thing is to order GCMS and if you know that refusal reasons were on based on old documents then should go to judicial review. I am also the victim of same such scenario. I have already request GCMS and waiting .....

 

[anna2020]

Update: I don't have to go through court anymore and we are negotiating directly with the IRCC lawyers however as soon as I got this good news, they stopped processing TRV for everyone and since March I've literally been stuck. I got my refusal in February and started working with a lawyer in March then the whole COVID-19 happened. On the website it says until at least June 30th, they aren't processing any TRV unless you're an immediate family member. I completely understand the situation however it just gives me anxiety and a lot of stress not knowing what will happen. It's okay if the border don't open now but at least I wish I could know what the end result of my situation will be, I started my application in late December 2019 for a simple visitor visa and fast forward 6 months later no answer...I really hope they at least process them! I wish they would prioritize applications send before this COVID-19

 

[Laurahd]

Hi all,

Since you have submitted your application recently, I wanted to ask if an TRV application for in-laws in considered immediate family for IRCC?

 

[amanssidhu]

Update: I don't have to go through court anymore and we are negotiating directly with the IRCC lawyers however as soon as I got this good news, they stopped processing TRV for everyone and since March I've literally been stuck. I got my refusal in February and started working with a lawyer in March then the whole COVID-19 happened. On the website it says until at least June 30th, they aren't processing any TRV unless you're an immediate family member. I completely understand the situation however it just gives me anxiety and a lot of stress not knowing what will happen. It's okay if the border don't open now but at least I wish I could know what the end result of my situation will be, I started my application in late December 2019 for a simple visitor visa and fast forward 6 months later no answer...I really hope they at least process them! I wish they would prioritize applications send before this COVID-19

hey can you please tell us what happened with your application and who is your lawyer ?

 

[canuck78]

hey can you please tell us what happened with your application and who is your lawyer ?

When did you have your visa denied? In March? If so you disn’t meet the filing deadline.

 

[User2323]

Hello,

I applied for a visitor visa and got rejected and the reasons were very basic terminology in my opinion and not very relevant to my application. I believe the officer made a mistake and decided to go through the route of judicial review. I'm working with a lawyer from a good firm in Canada and we got the reasons in early March and then just as we were going to apply for judicial review, the courts got closed due to the coronavirus. I actually didn't know this would effect my application considering we don't have a court hearing until I heard from my lawyer today that they're not accepting any documents. Does anyone know when the courts will reopen in Ontario? Also, if anyone has experience with judicial review, how long did your application take? My application is not very complicated, just a visitor visa but i really don't know what will happen and how long it will take especially with this coronavirus.

Hey sorry to hear. Waiting for courts to reopen as well. I was told maybe july 29th hopefully. If you dont mind me asking, when did you get the refusal? And when did you ask for the written reasons from ircc? I got my refusal in January 2020 asked for reasons in March and still waiting. That's all we can do during these unprecedented times.

 

[anna2020]

Nothing has changed in my latest update. Fortunately I didn't have to go through the court and they agreed for the IRCC to directly review my case when they stopped processing tourist visas. Just something strange...my application went from being "refused" to "processing" this week. I found that very weird since they aren't processing any visas. Apparently they have received my returned file but I don't think they are "processing" because they haven't requested any new documents (which they should btw). On the immigration website they've stopped processing tourist visas until June 30 but I really don't know

 

[User2323]

Nothing has changed in my latest update. Fortunately I didn't have to go through the court and they agreed for the IRCC to directly review my case when they stopped processing tourist visas. Just something strange...my application went from being "refused" to "processing" this week. I found that very weird since they aren't processing any visas. Apparently they have received my returned file but I don't think they are "processing" because they haven't requested any new documents (which they should btw). On the immigration website they've stopped processing tourist visas until June 30 but I really don't know

I am happy to hear, it sounds like the fact that the IRCC lawyers settled things before it went to court means they're going to continue processing your aplication. My question was when did you originally get the refusal letter for your application? When did you request for the written reason from them before getting them in early March? And do you please recall what stage of the filling for appeal that the IRCC lawyers offered to settle out of court?