The Guidelines for the Refusal of Self-Employed Applicants
Situations could arise where the applicants do not meet the minimal requirements. As such, the officers would need to refuse these individuals. This is in accordance with the provisions specified in R100 (2). It is worth mentioning that the authorities have described these provisions in the inadmissible section of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). As such, these prohibitions would continue to apply in the normal way.
Officers would need to remember that they must assess individuals applying as self-employed individuals in that category itself. Similarly, the officers would need to accept or refuse these applicants based on the assessments they carry out against the requirements of the self-employed category. Therefore, officers would not need to assess failed business applicants in any other categories. In addition, the applicant cannot change categories once the officers have opened the application.
The Refusal Letter for Self- Employed Applicants
Officers would need to ensure that the refusal letter clearly states all the reasons for refusal in detail. Given at the end of this document is a sample refusal letter that officers could peruse for general guidance.
The Guidelines for Making the Admissibility Decision
In many cases, the visa office would need to proceed with the issuance of the visa if:
- The applicant meets the prescribed selection criteria and,
- The applicant is otherwise admissible
The Monitoring Guidelines
It is worth highlighting that the file retention and disposal requirements for self-employed applicants differs slightly from the requirements for entrepreneurs. Officers would need to retain the records of successful self-employed individuals for two years from the date of visa issuance. It is worth recalling that the officers need to retain the records of successful entrepreneurs for three years.
There is currently no system in place for monitoring self-employed persons in Canada.
