Understanding Visa Case Studies: Legal Review and Fairness Standards

1. What’s the point of reading these cases? • examples of the kinds of situations people find themselves in, and level of scrutiny of visa officers • all cases using OLD law • standard of review: “…courts should not interfere with the exercise of discretion of a sttty authority merely bc the court might have exercised the discretion in a different manner…” + good faith, natural justice, nothing irrelevant or extraneous

2. Yang v Canada 1989 • writs of mandamus and certiorari • “intention” of Act and subsequent interpretation • elements of fairness: how to count experience (v substantive); opportunity to refute; made decision w/o looking at material requested • self employed • n.b. remedy

3. Orzhekhovskiy v Canada 2004 • skilled worker subclass • CAIPS • certified question procedure • why did he ‘win’ and what did he win?

4. Qin v Canada • entrepreneur category • use of Immigration Act cases for fairness standards • delegation is OK but here it breaches specific statutory terms

5. Agcheloo v Canada 2003 • investor category • how many opportunities to produce documentation?

6. Alam v Canada 2004 • skilled worker category • substituted assessment, now reg 76(3) • note para 22: heavier onus to justify use of negative discretion than to justify use of positive discretion