I found the following on OPIC web site. Any comments. The information is extremely confusing!!
THE ORGANIZATION OF PROFESSIONAL IMMIGRATION CONSULTANTS
IMMIGRATION ALERT In her testimony before the Senate Committee, the Minister of Immigration of Canada confirmed that the new selection criteria flowing from Bill C-11 would be applied retroactively. In the past the Department has always assessed applicants according to the selection criteria in effect at the time their application was submitted.
The new policy will allow departmental officials to re-assess all applicants who have not been interviewed when the new criteria take effect and refuse applicants without an interview. The target date for implementation of the new criteria, according to departmental officials, is April 1, 2002.
Departmental officials have confirmed that the reason they are prepared to take this unprecedented step, which ignores the reasonable expectations of future Canadians, is to eliminate the backlog at visa offices overseas. The only way this can be done is to refuse a high percentage of cases in the backlog without interview. They are prepared to sacrifice their clients, who have been waiting patiently for up to 4 years, in order to eliminate a backlog which they have chosen not to address until now.
The hardship created by this strategy will be uneven depending upon the size of the backlog at each visa office. Hardest hit will be applicants served by visa offices with large backlogs. For example, citizens of the PRC have been waiting over 3 years for their applications to be processed in Beijing and Hong Kong. These applicants may now be refused without an interview.
Board of Directors
OPIC
THE ORGANIZATION OF PROFESSIONAL IMMIGRATION CONSULTANTS
IMMIGRATION ALERT In her testimony before the Senate Committee, the Minister of Immigration of Canada confirmed that the new selection criteria flowing from Bill C-11 would be applied retroactively. In the past the Department has always assessed applicants according to the selection criteria in effect at the time their application was submitted.
The new policy will allow departmental officials to re-assess all applicants who have not been interviewed when the new criteria take effect and refuse applicants without an interview. The target date for implementation of the new criteria, according to departmental officials, is April 1, 2002.
Departmental officials have confirmed that the reason they are prepared to take this unprecedented step, which ignores the reasonable expectations of future Canadians, is to eliminate the backlog at visa offices overseas. The only way this can be done is to refuse a high percentage of cases in the backlog without interview. They are prepared to sacrifice their clients, who have been waiting patiently for up to 4 years, in order to eliminate a backlog which they have chosen not to address until now.
The hardship created by this strategy will be uneven depending upon the size of the backlog at each visa office. Hardest hit will be applicants served by visa offices with large backlogs. For example, citizens of the PRC have been waiting over 3 years for their applications to be processed in Beijing and Hong Kong. These applicants may now be refused without an interview.
Board of Directors
OPIC