Immigration Canada denies work permit applications, and even humanitarian applications, when applicants fail to provide their biometrics. This seems like a seemingly trivial requirement—except that several immigration lawyers report that their clients who attempt to have their fingerprints and photos taken at Service Canada centres are turned away empty-handed.
This is the case, for example, of Natan*, who arrived in Canada at a young age, was quickly placed in the custody of the DYP (Department of Youth Protection), and, after obtaining a criminal record as an adult, lost his permanent residency.
While waiting to regain his status and become a Canadian citizen, as the law provides in his case, he is entitled to a work permit, allowing him to earn a living and support himself.
Except that to obtain this type of permit, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) indicates that he must submit his biometric data, a procedural requirement that should be easy to fulfill—but that’s where things get complicated.
This new technical requirement, which essentially consists of taking fingerprints and a photo, is done at points of service run by another agency, Service Canada.
When Natan arrives there, they refuse to take his fingerprints. He doesn’t have a valid piece of identification recognized by Service Canada.
Like Natan, many people without status, with atypical immigration paths, don’t have standard identity documents, such as a valid passport, for example.
This is understandable: that’s the reason they approach IRCC. Except that Service Canada is reluctant to accommodate them.
Natan tries his luck at several different offices, without success. Yet, it’s not his identity that’s being disputed. He has several documents already recognized by the federal and provincial governments, including a Quebec driver’s license and a passport copy approved by border services. But these documents are refused by Service Canada employees.
A few days later, he receives a message from IRCC informing him that his work permit application has been refused for failure to submit his biometric data.
“What you have to understand is that these aren’t refusals based on the fact that the person doesn’t qualify for the application they submitted,” argues Coline Bellefleur, Natan’s lawyer. “It’s really a refusal based on the fact that they didn’t comply with a procedural requirement.”
“It’s a true denial of rights,” she argues.
Costly Rigidity
Natan isn’t alone in running into Service Canada’s bureaucratic rigidity.
For those who find themselves, like him, without status and without the possibility of work, this only exacerbates their already severe financial insecurity.
In his case, as in several others involving criminalized individuals about whom Pivot has collected testimonies, job loss jeopardizes the process of social reintegration after a criminal conviction.
According to Coline Bellefleur, the problem arises in particular in two specific cases: individuals with atypical immigration backgrounds who are in the humanitarian application process and whose application was accepted by IRCC at the initial stage, or certain individuals who qualify to apply for a work permit.
“These are people whose immigration backgrounds are a little more chaotic, more complex, or a little unusual, who don’t fit into the expected categories in terms of identity documents. »
In the past, Coline Bellefleur reports that clients were turned away by Service Canada, but that with an explanatory letter from a lawyer, or by trying other offices, they were able to obtain their biometric data.
“But now, really, nothing works anymore.”
“We’re paying for this, we’re paying for nothing, really,” adds Nabih Ouled-Zaoui. Two of her clients, like Natan, have had their work permit applications refused.
One case involves a mother of two Canadian-born children whose deportation order was suspended and who had already obtained a work permit during the pandemic, at a time when the new biometric data collection wasn’t required. In the past, IRCC had used the data already collected in her file when applying for permanent residence. But when it came time to renew, he was asked to go through the process again, at his own expense.
This time, as with Natan, Service Canada refused, and the application to IRCC was also rejected, “because we have two departments that aren’t communicating,” Nab summarizes.
Nabih Ouled-Zaoui. “Because we have a ministry that collects money, but doesn’t follow up and refuses applications […] and we have no contact at the ministry.”
In addition to the processing fees for a work permit application, which are at least $150, applicants also pay $85 to IRCC for biometric data collection, even if Service Canada refuses to collect them.
“Immigration Canada [charges] fees, collects a huge amount of money, and doesn’t even process applications. In civil law, around the world, this is called unjust enrichment,” says Nabih Ouled-Zaoui.
Coline Bellefleur intends to challenge IRCC’s decision in Natan’s case and take the matter to Federal Court. “But I’m doing it at my own expense. These aren’t clients who have the capacity to litigate these cases, and it shouldn’t come to this,” she complains.
“This situation is so absurd.”
Like Natan, one of Mylène Barrière’s clients, his work permit application was denied after attempting to have his fingerprints taken three times following his release from prison.
During the last attempt, he was accompanied by the lawyer, who was determined to win his case as the IRCC deadline for completing the biometric application was fast approaching.
After lengthy discussions, Service Canada employees indicated that the copy of his passport was unacceptable, as it lacked a border services stamp. She was suggested to go to the airport, but nothing was guaranteed upon her return, since too much time would have potentially passed since IRCC ordered the biometric collection.
“There’s no longer any rationality. We’re not interested in the substance, in the question of whether the person’s identity has been established, we’re only interested in our protocol,” the lawyer complained. “And that’s where it becomes really problematic.”
Questioned by Pivot, Service Canada indicated that protected persons should be able to have their biometric data collected by presenting a certified copy of their passport.
This information contradicts what agents communicated to Natan, as well as what appears in a Service Canada document intended for lawyers and which Pivot was able to consult. It states, for example, that a seaman’s logbook is a valid document, but that a certified copy of a passport is not.
“There’s no longer any rationality.” We’re not interested in the substance, in whether the person’s identity is established; we’re just interested in our protocol.”
Several lawyers who spoke to Pivot confirmed that Service Canada’s requirements seem to vary from one center to another. Some employees even reportedly told lawyers they didn’t know which documents were satisfactory or not.
“It’s really discouraging,” says Coline Bellefleur. “Especially since the regulations don’t include such requirements for identity documents at the biometrics stage.”
“These are people whose identity documents are already considered satisfactory and whose applications are otherwise processed by IRCC.”
“As long as the request for biometrics has been made [by Immigration Canada], it’s because IRCC has deemed it acceptable,” explains Mylène Barrière. “Basically, Service Canada could ask us what we submitted to IRCC so that IRCC is satisfied with the identity for the work permit application.”
In an email to Pivot, IRCC confirmed that a certified passport copy should be acceptable in certain cases and indicated that if “Service Canada cannot confirm the applicant’s identity, Service Canada has been instructed not to proceed with the collection, to inform IRCC, and to advise the applicant to contact IRCC.”
However, all requests by lawyers to IRCC to explain their clients’ situation and possibly obtain exemptions have reportedly gone unanswered. According to the lawyers, there is no way to discuss the matter with an agent.
The only communications received by the lawyers appear to be automated messages sent directly to their clients’ files. Most are refusals or final notices, warning that if the biometrics are not received within the timeframe prescribed by IRCC, the application will be refused.
*Pivot has granted this person anonymity to avoid compromising their situation.
Léa Beaulieu-Kratchanov, Local Journalism Initiative, PIVOT
