Leon was found inadmissible to Canada for misrepresenting material fact on his application for a work permit to Canada. He was told by Immigration Canada that he is banned from Canada for five years. This did not fit within Leon’s life plans as he had a job offer from a Canadian employer to start his work ASAP.
In general, there are very limited ways to remedy a misrepresentation finding. The legal defences are very limited. If Immigration Canada believes that you omitted a serious material fact when applying for any sort of a visa to Canada, and if that omission could have caused an officer to apply our Immigration Act improperly – they will write you a letter (it’s called “Procedural fairness letter” or “PFL”) to explain your omission. You will then have an opportunity to explain (ideally, this is when you will hire a lawyer to assess your options and to respond), and then Immigration Canada will be making their decision. In Leon’s case, he responded to the PFL himself.
Then he came to us. Some misrepresentation cases are being won on facts, some of caselaw, some on appeals, and some on procedures. The last one is the one we encounter often. But it wasn’t Leon’s case. We looked over his immigration application, the documents he submitted and the PFL letter and Leon’;’s response. We then had to prepare our legal submissions on how the officer was unreasonable in their treatment of the evidence, and that the evidence was clear that there was no omissions. Three weeks later Leon was informed by Immigration Canada that his application was reopened and the misrepresentation allegations taken away.
So what happened next?
The Covid pandemic started right when Leon’s application for a work permit was in process. His Canadian employer could no longer accommodate him. While he will not be coming to Canada to work for this employer, with no misrepresentation hanging over him he is free to apply for any other visa to come to Canada.