Bill C-255 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (appeal process for temporary resident visa applicants)

This bill was last introduced in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session, which ended in September 2019.

Sponsor

Don Davies  NDP

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of March 24, 2016
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.

This enactment establishes an appeal process for foreign nationals who apply for temporary resident visas under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. It extends the jurisdiction of the Immigration Appeal Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board for that purpose, by expanding its mandate to include appeals from foreign nationals who have been refused a temporary resident visa or an extension of an authorization to remain in Canada.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Immigration and Refugee Protection ActRoutine Proceedings

March 24th, 2016 / 10:15 a.m.
See context

NDP

Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-255, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (appeal process for temporary resident visa applicants).

Mr. Speaker, I am very honoured to rise in the House, with thanks to my seconder, the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby, to introduce this very important bill.

I come from Vancouver Kingsway, one of the most multicultural ridings in the country, where families have settled from all over the world. They still have relatives who live all over the world, and they regularly invite their relatives to come for important family events like weddings, funerals, and births, as well as just simply to visit.

Many of those visitors have to apply for a visitor's visa, a TRV, with which all members of this House would be familiar, and very often these visas are rejected, often incorrectly, and always with very little or inadequate information. There is no appeal of that decision.

The bill would provide applicants who were turned down with an appeal to the immigration appeal division, so they could correct this in a timely manner instead of having to reapply for a new visa, which costs additional money, causes delays, and results in prejudice to people—as they continue to get rejected, they end up losing their chance of getting a visa.

The bill would rectify that and give applicants a chance to correct injustice, and I hope all members of the House support the bill.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)