Operational Bulletin 413 – April 27, 2012
The Processing Procedures for Certain Federal Skilled Worker Backlog Applications: Budget 2012 – The Amended Version
Issue
The authorities announced a slew of immigration related announcements on March 29, 2012. These announcements came during the presentation of the 2012 budget. This Operational Bulletin (OB):
- Serves to replace OBs 400 and 404 and,
- Provides further clarifications on the immediate implications for the processing of Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) applications received prior to February 27, 2008
Background
The authorities propose to eliminate the backlog of cases in the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) Program. This was one of the main announcements made during Budget 2012 (Economic Action Plan 2012). They propose to eliminate this backlog by terminating certain applications. These applications will comprise those applications made prior to February 27, 2008.
At present, all applicants submit their applications to officers of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). While submitting their applications, the applicants will pay a certain amount as fees to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). However, the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) proposal could result in the cancellation of many applications. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) officers would need to return these fees to the affected applicants in this situation.
As mentioned earlier, the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) proposal aims to terminate certain Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) applications. The authorities detailed this proposal as a part of the March 2012 Budget. The authorities plan to amend the provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). They will do this via the Budget Implementation Act (BIA) bill. This will help them to enact the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) proposal specified during the March 2012 Budget.
Therefore, the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) proposal will have no legal effect at present. This will remain the case until the authorities enact the Budget Implementation Act (BIA). In addition, the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) proposal will also have no legal effect until the Budget Implementation Act (BIA) comes into force.
Therefore, the authorities have introduced the Budget Implementation Act (BIA) since. In time, the bill will become a law. However, the date on which the bill will come into force date remains unknown for the moment.
The Instructions for Processing
The authorities have specified that the local managers would need to continue processing Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) applications. This includes the processing of Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) applications:
- Submitted prior to February 27, 2008 and,
- Regardless of whether the authorities have rendered a selection decision prior to March 29, 2012 or not
However, the local managers would only follow these instructions for the moment. They will cease to do so once the authorities enact the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) proposal and bring it into force.
Effectively, this means that the local managers would continue the processing of all cohorts of Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) cases. It also means that the established priorities for MI cases will continue to remain in effect.
OB 400 and OB 404 have resulted in widespread local communications and website changes. However, this OB effectively replaces OBs 400 and 404. Therefore, with the coming into effect of this OB, the authorities would need to discontinue these local communications and website changes.
The authorities will provide further instructions on the next steps with respect to the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) backlog cases affected by the Budget announcement. They will publish these instructions as soon as they become available. In all probability, these instructions will also specify how Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will go about returning the fees to the affected applicants.
Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)
