Applicants must prove their language skills by meeting minimum language requirements when applying for a permanent residency or a work permit in Canada.
However, meeting the minimum language requirement does not guarantee a visa approval. Visa officers can reject such applicants' applications. An Indian citizen's application for temporary residence and work authorization in British Columbia has been denied.
This was because, Canadian visa officers were not convinced that the applicant had the language skills necessary to adequately perform the work. As a matter of fact, the applicant had a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and met the language requirement of CLB 4 for the job but his application was rejected due to the lower level of reading score (CLB 5).
The officer considered the applicant's score was not enough to study and learn the rules of driving in Canada. According to the Federal Court decisions about the judgement and reasons between the applicant and minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Mr. Singh, the applicant, raised two issues.
The first issue he submitted that the decision is unreasonable since the Officer required a higher language competency level than the provincial and NOC requirements, and added job requirements that were not included in the LMIA or NOC documents.
The second issue, thus in his written submissions, the applicant argued that the officer breached procedural fairness by assessing his language proficiency at a higher level than other applicants. Also, a breach of the doctrine of legitimate expectations as well as by not providing him an opportunity to respond to the officer’s decision to add job requirements not found in the LMIA or NOC for the position he applied for.
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