Digests

Chen v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration)

IMM-2451-99

Blais J.

2/5/00

7 pp.

Judicial review of visa officer's refusal of application for permanent residence--Applicant citizen of People's Republic of China--Graduated from university in 1992 with bachelor of arts degree majoring in Japanese--Working as interpreter for almost seven years--Applied in independent category under occupation of interpreter--Refusal letter indicating applicant awarded zero units of assessment for experience since not having required training to be assessed in occupation of interpreter, namely bachelor's degree in translation according to National Occupational Classification (NOC)--Application allowed--Employment requirement for interpreters as set out in NOC: bachelor's degree in translation or related discipline--Notes indicating visa officer (1) ignored related discipline component of employment requirements; (2) applied different employment requirement than that required by NOC--NOC requiring related discipline; visa officer imposing "equivalent" or "substitute" discipline--"Related" defined as "connected by reason of established or discoverable relation"--"Equivalent" defined as "corresponding or virtually identical"--Equivalent degree more stringent requirement than related degree--Had equivalent or substitute degree been required, drafter could easily have so specified--Instead drafter opted for related discipline--In applying different employment requirement, visa officer misinterpreted employment requirements, erred in law--That visa officers, who are not experts in matter, assessing interpretation skills of applicants of great concern (see also Gao v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [2000] F.C.J. No. 350 (T.D.) (QL)--Visa officers not in position to assess employment skills--Practice of assessing employment skills of interpreters not appropriate--Applicants should be awarded points on basis of factors set out in Regulations, not on skills as interpreter.