Digests

Wang v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration)

IMM-3912-00

2002 FCT 146, MacKay J.

8/2/02

13 pp.

Application for judicial review of visa officer's decision dismissing applicant's application for permanent residence in Canada under independent category, as tool and die maker--Awarded 66 points, 4 short of 70 required-- Applicant awarded 2 points out of possible 9 for language abilities; 5 out of 10 for personal suitability--Applicant challenging assessments--Application allowed--As to standard of review, Court should intervene only if error of law apparent on face of record, breach of duty of fairness, or if, in exercise of discretion, visa officer reached patently unreasonable conclusion of fact--As to language, no evidence visa officer assumed language ability had to be flawless to be considered "fluent"--Not error to fail to assess applicant's ability against standard of "fluency" when applicant himself considered spoke, wrote and read English "well"--Visa officer did not err by assigning particular, or no, weight to applicant's Test of English as Foreign Language results--No reason to intervene with visa officer's assessment of applicant's ability to write in English language--No evidence visa officer not qualified to assess English skills of applicant for immigration purposes--Visa officer's qualifications matter to be assessed by employer, not for assessment by Court in dealing with application for judicial review--Visa officer erred in assessing personal suitability largely on basis of applicant's failure to research general Canadian labour market, when refused to consider relevant evidence of applicant concerning his search, including internet, which produced indication of reasonable number of jobs in intended occupation in Canada--Having erred, visa officer's conclusion concerning applicant's personal suitability, based largely on officer's perception applicant failed to demonstrate initiative in examining general job market in Canada, unwarranted--On evidence, interview of applicant inadequate for purposes of assessing applicant, particularly in regard to personal suitability where officer reached conclusion without considering relevant information which applicant sought to bring forward, and apparently considered his educational attainment, matter already assessed and thus not relevant to assessment of personal suitability--As circumstances of case unusual in view of necessity of conducting second session by telephone to complete cross-examination on visa officer's affidavit, circumstances providing special reasons for award of costs to applicant in amount related only to preparation for, and time devoted to, second scheduled occasion for cross-examination of visa officer--Costs fixed at $500.