Mandamus is a wonderful tool to compel Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to finally decide on an application that has been stuck for a long time for no apparent reason.
Unfortunately, IRCC sometimes prolongs processing of a permanent or temporary residence application without any explanation. This can make the applicants confused, frustrated, and anxious, especially if they are waiting to reunite with their family in Canada.
According to the data published on the IRCC website last month, nearly half (918,300 to be exact) of applications are still in backlog:
Source: Building a stronger immigration system – Canada.ca
Urging IRCC to process the application or/and involving a Member of Parliament might help. But sometimes the only option is to ask the Federal Court to order IRCC to process the application. This procedure is called “mandamus”. IRCC will often finalize the application shortly after a mandamus application is filed and before the Federal Court proceedings go too far. In other words, IRCC will often not wait for the Federal Court to order them to decide on the application. An application is generally a good candidate for mandamus if:
- the application exceeded Immigration Canada’s average processing times;
- IRCC was urged to process the application;
- the submitted application is complete; and if
- there is no valid reason (such as: inadmissibility concerns) why IRCC is refusing to finalize the application.
While mandamus has proven to be very effective, the question remains if going to the Federal Court just to ask IRCC to do their job is a good use of taxpayers’ and applicants’ money?