Canadian Immigration: The Canadian federal courts recently made decisions in two immigration-related cases involving severe processing delays. In both cases, applicants requested a writ of mandamus to force Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to make a decision on their application.
A writ of mandamus is a legal order that requires IRCC or any government body to make a decision within a set timeline. It is used only in special cases where delays are excessive and unjustified.
Case 1: Permanent Residence Application Delay
In the first case, Tala Ghaddar, her husband, and three children asked the court to order IRCC to process their permanent residence application submitted back in 2016. They applied through Express Entry and were nominated by a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in 2017.
Ghaddar contacted IRCC several times since 2018 but never received enough information about the delay. The court agreed that the delay was unreasonable and unfair.
Court’s Decision
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IRCC was ordered to finish processing the application within 90 days.
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The family received $1,000 as compensation for the long delay.
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IRCC failed to justify or explain the delay.
