The immigration court has ruled that visa officers do not have the discretion to alter the eligibility criteria of the Post-Graduate Work Permit Program (PGWP) on humanitarian or compassionate grounds.
On June 14, 2022, reviewing the application of an applicant failing to fulfill the requirements of the PGWP, the Federal Court of Canada decided that even with the new evidence, the applicant would still have failed to satisfy the necessary criteria.
There is no law for the PGWP that confers discretion on an officer to alter or waive the eligibility requirements on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Visa officials are not permitted to overlook any of the prerequisites for the approval of a PGWP.
In regards to the Applicant's contention that the Officer should have considered the H&C factors in his case, the honourable agreed with the Respondent that since the Applicant did not qualify for a PGWP, the Officer had no discretion to modify the eligibility requirements on H&C grounds.
At the end of the judgement, the court's judgement was that the application for judicial review was dismissed and there was no question to certify.
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