Digests

Citizenship and Immigration

Status in Canada

Permanent Residents

Judicial review of immigration officer’s decision rejecting applicant’s visa application on ground that she had not provided requested information—Applicant designating counsel to represent her in permanent resident application—In order to transfer application for fast-tracking, immigration officer sending e-mail to counsel requesting additional documents be submitted—Counsel claiming never having received message—Officer twice receiving automated message to effect that message successfully relayed to recipient, but that delivery status notification may not be generated by destination—Whether rejection of application met procedural fairness requirements—Court not convinced that request for additional information in fact sent to applicant—Automated response not constituting proof that message had actually reached destination—Onus on officer to ensure e-mail had in fact been properly sent—Automated reply should have raised doubts in officer’s mind that communication had failed—When counsel contacted visa office to explain situation, officer should have given applicant opportunity to provide required documents—Application allowed.

Abboud v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) (IMM-1191-10, 2010 FC 876, Tremblay-Lamer J., judgment dated September 3, 2010, 8 pp.)