Rich Chinese axed from Canada visa queue get March 31 deadline to join lawsuit
Wealthy would-be migrants whose visa applications were dumped when Canada axed its immigrant investor programme last month have until the end of March to join a legal case demanding that their applications be assessed.
Wealthy would-be migrants whose visa applications were dumped when Canada axed its immigrant investor programme last month have until the end of March to join a legal case demanding that their applications be assessed.
Toronto immigration lawyer Tim Leahy, who brought the case on behalf of the mostly Chinese claimants, said the judge in the case had on Tuesday set a date of June 4 for the judicial review to be heard in Canada's federal court.
About 100 applicants to the investor scheme have already joined the case, but Leahy said on Tuesday that the department of justice "has tentatively agreed to consent to the request for those whose names and file numbers I submit by March 31".
The June 4 hearing date makes it likely that the case would be decided upon before the decision to axe the immigrant investor scheme and dump the backlogged applications is passed into law as a provision in the Conservative government's budget bill.
Leahy's clients are seeking a judicial review of "the decisions of undisclosed persons made on unknown dates not to honour the pledge to assess and finalise within the foreseeable future the applicants' applications for permanent residence".