Canada offers hope to migration hopefuls

Chandigarh: In a significant relief to scores of people aspiring to settle in Canada, it is likely that all the applications filed before 2008 will now be accepted.

A federal court in Canada has passed a ruling in favour of such applicants directing the Ottawa immigration authorities to process all such applications. The ruling comes as a welcome step for over 3 lakh families worldwide who were suffering major professional, financial and emotional setback due to the lengthy backlog of their applications raging five to nine years.

About 900 applicants, many of them from the northern region, under the federal skilled workers’ programme, who had been severely hit by the decision to return the applications filed prior to February 2008, had filed a case against Immigration Minister Jason Kenney for violating the pledge to assess and finalise decisions in a timely manner, Chandigarh-based immigration expert Col BS Sandhu (retd) said.

“The ruling is a positive sign for these 900 applicants who can now hope to realise their dreams of settling in Canada once again.

“I am happy for these people and their families as their applications will now be processed in a timely manner,” Col Sandhu maintained.

The proposed decision of the government to return all the applications filed prior to end of February 2008 had come as a rude shock to the immigration aspirants, who applied before 2008 and were waiting for their cases to be processed.