This Week’s Featured Success Story: A Long Path to Permanent Residence

In 2009 we were retained to assist a young man with his refugee claim. He was in an interfaith marriage, and feared that he would be returned to his home country. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) was involved in the refugee hearing, as there were also security concerns. In 2011, following interviews with the CBSA and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, he was granted status as a Convention Refugee. Now safe from being returned to his country, the assessment of permanent residence began.

While on a road trip with friends in Canada, this refugee was arrested for theft together with his friends in 2012. While waiting in the car, a friend stole some items from a store in another province. We updated Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), and advised that these charges would delay his permanent residence. A criminal lawyer was required, and in 2013 the criminal charges were withdrawn. We again updated CIC and waited for his application to be processed. By the end of 2014, there was no progress. We commenced an application for mandamus – demanding that CIC process his application for permanent residence – with the Federal Court of Canada in 2015. We filed arguments demonstrating that, even with the delay in processing caused by the criminal charges, CIC was taking too long. Before the Court proceedings were concluded, our client was invited to become a permanent resident of Canada.