Date: 20020207
Docket: IMM-3382-00
Neutral citation: 2002 FCT 145
Toronto, Ontario, Thursday, the 7th day of February, 2002
PRESENT: The Honourable Mr. Justice Lemieux
BETWEEN:
TSEKHMEYSTRUK NATALIA
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF
CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
(Delivered from the Bench at Toronto,
Ontario on February 6, 2002)
[1] This application for judicial review must be allowed. It challenges a decision of a visa officer who denied the applicant's application for permanent residence in Canada. He awarded the applicant 0 for the occupational factor and 0 for the experience factor because she did not have a Master's Degree which is the minimum required in the NOC to work as a psychologist.
[2] The applicant has a diploma from Kiev University which she attended for 6 years; her diploma indicates she specialized in Psychology.
[3] The visa officer asked the Canadian Embassy in Moscow whether her six year diploma was equivalent to a Canadian Master's Degree. He did not tell the Embassy she had been engaged part-time for three years in post-graduate studies.
[4] Assuming counsel for the respondent is correct that the equivalency system under the NOC only compares foreign degrees with Canadian degrees and does not take into account years of study towards a degree, the response from Moscow contains a material error. The Embassy in Moscow answered "No the basic 5 yrs education in an Institute or University is considered as a Bachelor's degree ..."
[5] With respect the Embassy in Moscow did not answer the question put to it, namely, whether a six year specialized diploma from Kiev University is equivalent to a Master's Degree. I am also concerned the question was not asked of the Canadian authorities in Kiev. Her diploma was earned after Ukraine had regained its independence.
ORDER
[6] The visa officer's decision is set aside and the applicant's application remitted for reconsideration by a different visa officer.
"François Lemieux"
J.F.C.C.
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
COURT NO: IMM-3382-00
STYLE OF CAUSE: TSEKHMEYSTRUK NATALIA
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
DATE OF HEARING: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2002
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER BY: LEMIEUX J.
DELIVERED FROM THE BENCH ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2002
DATED: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2002
APPEARANCES: Mr. Jack Davis
For the Applicant
Mr. Tamrat Gebeyehu
For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD: Davis & Grice
Barristers & Solicitors
706-1110 Finch Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario
M3J 2T2
For the Applicant
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date: 20020207
Docket: IMM-3382-00
Between:
TSEKHMEYSTRUK NATALIA
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER