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"The Canadian government has passed a bill that will terminate pending immigration applications, including those of Filipinos, that were filed under the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) Program before February 2008.
The new law can also have a retroactive effect on applications filed before March 29, 2012 that are yet to receive a decision from any Canadian immigration officer.
It will affect both principal applicants and their dependents.
The “unilateral move” can affect about 280,000 applications, including 30,000 to 60,000 applications from Filipinos, according to lawyer Gerard Algarra, representative of a group of Manila-based Filipino applicants.
The Canadian Embassy in Manila clarified that the law, called Bill C-38, is a “general policy” that would affect immigration applications by all nationalities filed before February 2008.
The legislation, which was passed on June 30, allows the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to terminate pending immigration applications and return their processing fees, totaling around $130 million.
But the CIC will continue to process the applications of those who have already passed the selection criteria before March 29, 2012.
The Canadian government said the termination of applications does not mean that the pending applications were all rejected. Instead, it encourages applicants to file again under the new set of immigration criteria.
The new immigration rules will be introduced in early 2013, reports said, although the Canadian government said that it could process in under 12 months new FSW applicants who have the skills that the North American country needs.
Unclogging the system
The move was seen by the Canadian government as a means to unclog the country's immigration system.
But the Canadian government said that the applicants could still apply under another permanent residency program.
“The large backlog of applications that has accumulated under the Federal Skilled Worker Program is impending the responsiveness of Canada's immigration system,” the Canadian government said in its immigration website.
Canada is among the favorite destination for Filipinos who wish to migrate abroad because of its “liberal immigration policies.”
However, Algarra, a specialist in immigration laws, said the newly passed law is “unconstitutional, illegal and arbitrary” since it constitutes a “retroactive legislation”
He added that Filipino applicants for migration to Canada under the FSW program have approached him, decrying the new Canadian law.
“These applicants have waited for five or 10 years for the Canadian government to act on their applications. Suddenly, they have been informed that a new law has been passed, returning their applications and processing fees without any explanation,” Algarra said, adding that his law office has been coordinating with a Canadian law office to file the class suit.
“The Filipino applicants are naturally mad, saying the new law with retroactive application is a sham in Canadian history. This is something that has never happened before in its history,” he said.
A spark of hope
Algarra, however, disclosed that one of the most noted Canadian immigration lawyers, Cecil Rotenberg, has assembled a battery of the best immigration lawyers in Canada to represent in court those affected FSW applicants.
Algarra said the class suit being initiated against the Federal government seeks to compel the latter to continue processing the affected pending applications.
“They were already able to obtain a 90-day reprieve from June 2012 wherein the government agreed not to implement the return of these applications,” he said.
“Within the 90-day period, the court has given the lawyers 60 days to file a Certification Motion to determine the validity of instituting a class action suit. If they win that round, the major legal battle will begin and the Canadian lawyers are positively hopeful that they will be able to secure a decision favorable to the affected applicants,” Algarra explained.
Algarra's law office is already coordinating with Rotenberg's since he has already organized a group of Filipino applicants who would like to join the class suit that will be filed against the Canadian federal government.
The class action suit will seek to compel Ottawa to continue processing the pending applications.
If they win, applicants who joined the suit will have their applications processed, but applicants who did not join will have their papers returned.
Greener pastures
The change in Canada's immigration policies was brought by the election of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in May 2012. Harper is the leader of the country's Conservative Party.
The FSW Program, which uses a point system to determine the eligibility and qualifications of the applicants, is the most popular and successful immigration program implemented by the Canadian government for foreign nationalities.
Since Canada opened its doors for migration, the FSW has been in effect and has been largely utilized by Filipinos in search of greener pastures.
Canada has reportedly accepted over 2.5 million permanent residents over the past decade.
In 2010, a total of 280,681 persons became permanent residents, of which 191,121 were Filipinos, accounting for 7.8 percent of immigrants there over the last 10 years.
Next to India and China, the Philippines has consistently ranked as one of the top three main source country for immigrants in Canada.
The Philippines was the third largest source country from 2001 to 2008, the second largest source country in 2009 and the largest source country in 2010.
WITH A REPORT FROM WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL"
from The Manila Times.net
published on 06 August 2012