Muhammad v. Canada ( Minister of Citizenship and Immigration )
IMM-4058-97
Evans J.
9/10/98
16 pp.
Judicial review of visa officer's refusal to issue visa to applicant-Intended occupation in application for permanent residence "Minicomputer/Microcomputer Specialist 2183-158"-Letter from immigration consultants employed by applicant stating applicant employed by oil company in Oman as senior technical assistant, working as member of team on project to computerize oil and gas well data on new Oracle-based system, so that data can be collected from different application programmers-Visa officer questioning applicant particularly about employment to determine whether work experience relevant to intended occupation in Canada-During interview, visa officer speaking to colleague in French over telephone about applicant's employment without disclosing to applicant what said-After interview, immigration consultants writing letter attempting to eliminate confusion about nature of applicant's experience, relevance to intended occupation-Attaching photocopied clippings from Canadian newspapers, other sources, advertising jobs calling for persons with applicant's experience-Application rejected because applicant awarded 0 units of assessment for experience, 5 out of 10 units of assessment for personal suitability on ground applicant not demonstrating initiative as failed to make personal attempts to obtain information regarding labour markets, potential employers in Canada-Application dismissed-(1) No evidence, as result of telephone conversation, visa officer obtaining information about applicant, relevance of work experience to job classification-Conversation not prejudicial to applicant; difficult to see what applicant could usefully have said in response-Visa officer not breaching duty of procedural fairness by not disclosing to applicant content of telephone conversation-(2) Visa application lacking clarity, specificity as to description of duties applicant performed in course of employment-While visa officer not permitted to adopt passive posture in processing application, onus on applicant to present to visa officer complete information about experience in readily comprehensible manner-Even if inferring visa officer not assessing relevance of applicant's experience for occupation of computer programmer, not error as explanations provided by applicant of nature of duties too vague to trigger duty in visa officer to make assessment for occupation other than that expressly designated by applicant-(3) Not reasonable inference from law, practice relating to use of immigration consultants applicants not expected to take some positive steps to explore job opportunities possibly available to them in Canada-Consultants assembling advertisements, not for purpose of enabling applicant to enquire about or apply for any of jobs advertised, but merely as evidence to persuade visa officer applicant's particular experience in demand in Canadian labour market-No basis for argument visa officer estopped from not awarding points for initiative because applicant using immigration consultants to gather information about labour market in Canada for his skills-Suggestion fact applicant engaging immigration consultants to assist in visa application in itself evidence of initiative, resourcefulness or any other similar quality that will help applicant to become successfully established in Canada, rejected-This would tend to prejudice those without financial resources to engage immigration consultants, whose fees might increase even further if applicants awarded units of assessment for hiring them-Would entrench even more deeply notion allocation of immigrant visas so thoroughly bureaucratized, legalized, individuals unable to gain access to process without assistance of "immigration industry"-Unreasonable for visa officer to refuse to give credit under "personal suitability" because applicant engaging assistance of agent if, for example, applicant instructing agent to circulate résumé to employment agencies, or to collect information about suitable jobs, submit applicant's résumé, covering letter-Perverse in such circumstances to discount these efforts simply because applicant not personally, directly involved at each step in process-But no indication herein of attempt by applicant, or agents on his behalf to explore employment opportunities.