105 Iranians say their dreams of coming to Canada were dashed just to clear a processing backlog & More News Here

As a toddler, Rokhsar MousaviNezhad was mesmerized by the colorful motifs and designs of the handmade Persian carpets displayed in her grandfather’s studio in Shiraz, a metropolis thought of Iran’s cultural capital.

It’s the place she fell in love with the craft of carpet-making and designs, and took her first dip into knotting and weaving with loom, combs and a conventional instrument referred to as gholab.

“I am proud of myself that I have continued my grandfather’s job,” says the now 41-year-old, who has constructed a profession instructing the craft, displaying her work in exhibits and working her personal carpet enterprise.

It’s these expertise and information that she was banking on when she utilized in 2016 for everlasting residence in Canada beneath the self-employed immigration program, which goals at luring exemplary athletes, artists and farmers to this nation.

Yet MousaviNezhad was rejected in 2018 for failing to display the flexibility and intent to develop into self-employed in Canada. Her refusal is amongst 105 instances entangled in an attraction to be heard collectively by the Federal Court subsequent week.

At challenge is whether or not the “mass” refusals made in “haste” — in accordance to the candidates’ court docket submissions — of these Iranians by the Canadian visa put up in Poland were the direct consequence of an effort to clear a backlog, allegedly “at the cost of violation of legal principles.”

The submissions say 479 recordsdata within the self-employed class were transferred to Warsaw from the backlogged Ankara put up in Turkey on March 7, 2018.

“The Warsaw visa post defied all norms, procedural fairness requirements, and reasonable expectations of outcome in its assessment of the … (cases) transferred to it,” the candidates claimed. “Officers moved straight to refusals thereof.”

Almost all litigants were refused for failing to display their skill and intent to develop into self-employed in Canada, regardless of enterprise plans that, prior to now, would have met the expectations of the Ankara visa put up, in accordance to litigants’ counsel.

Pantea Jafari, lawyer for the 105 Iranians, mentioned self-employed immigration functions are essentially the most labour-intensive for each officers and candidates, since there are few tips to help the evaluation and candidates are left at midnight about what proof would make their case.

“The document checklist does not provide any indication of what documents to provide for ‘relevant experience,’ it just says ‘relevant experience’ and ‘provide what you think is helpful,’” she instructed the Star.

“That’s it. There’s no reference whatsoever about the ability and intent to be self-employed in Canada.”

Jafari mentioned officers in Ankara routinely requested additional documentation and interviews with candidates as well as to a thorough evaluate of the individual’s marketing strategy.

“So there was a stark change in the process once things were switched to Warsaw,” Jafari mentioned in an interview. “Now, it’s saying ‘I’m going to refuse the application without any notice to the client.’ That is fundamentally procedurally unfair.”

In her marketing strategy, MousaviNezhad — presently in Montreal — mentioned she was going to run her personal studio based mostly in Newmarket, Ont., to train design and weaving in handmade Persian carpets whereas advertising and promoting her work domestically and internationally, particularly to the large U.S. market.

She additionally deliberate to supply lessons at faculties and neighborhood centres, and work with inside designers to create custom-made carpets.

MousaviNezhad mentioned she utilized to come to Canada after then-U.S. president Donald Trump banned Iranian-made rugs from getting into from any nation and restricted the sale of these already within the nation.

“Iran is famed for two things: Persian cat and Persian carpet. My business as a part of the rug community has suffered,” mentioned MousaviNezhad, who has a wonderful artwork diploma in rug design from the Science and Culture University in Yazd and is a licensed carpet-maker in Iran.

“I want to know how I don’t have the ability to be self-employed while I have an academic education as a rug expert and designer, and worked as a freelance artist since 2007.”

In an affidavit, Thomas Richter, Canada’s migration program supervisor in Warsaw, mentioned the self-employed class is an element of financial immigration, the place candidates are assessed “on the basis of their ability to become economically established in Canada.”

Qualified candidates, he acknowledged, will need to have the related expertise and have the opportunity to be self-employed, and should intend and have the opportunity to make a contribution to “specified economic activities” within the nation.

“I can state with certainty that I am not aware of any policy that is in place at the Canadian Embassy in Warsaw which would serve to discriminate or result in a bias against the clients,” Richter mentioned in his affidavit.

“Each client is assessed on the basis of their individual attributes and in accordance with the criteria outlined.”

The self-employed immigration program was fine-tuned in 2004 to restrict it to artists, athletes and farmers after a evaluate discovered it had been “compromised” by enterprise candidates unable to meet the skilled-worker standards and unwilling to transfer to the extra restrictive entrepreneur or immigrant investor applications, each of which require enormous capital investments.

“A person may be talented and may even have in-depth knowledge, but that does not necessarily mean that the person has the ability to be self-employed; this must be linked to the intention and ability to create his or her own employment,” the federal government argued in its submissions within the Iranian case.

“Visa officers do not have a duty to seek to clarify a deficient application, to reach out and make an applicant’s case, to apprise an applicant about concerns arising directly from the legislation or regulations, to provide the applicant with a running score at every step of the application process.”

The authorities has requested the court docket to dismiss the candidates’ request, which is to have their instances put aside and despatched to the Ankara put up for redetermination.

Among the 105 who were refused is Milad Bagheri, a classical tenor and conventional Iranian musician, who has carried out extensively in Canada, having toured in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver earlier than making use of to the self-employed program in 2018.

In August 2019, the 35-year-old arrived in Toronto along with his musician spouse, Homa Samiei, on a work allow as a self-employed overseas employee. The duo have been giving vocal and piano classes, performing on-line concert events and producing music whereas collaborating with Canadian composers and musicians.

“Even with COVID’s situation, which you know was tough for artists, we worked and had outstanding achievements. I just had a sold-out show at Toronto’s Meridian Arts Centre and will have another one at Vancouver in September,” mentioned Bagheri after a current studio recording of a new single.

“They assumed we couldn’t live in Canada as self-employed. As you can see, we are living in Canada as self-employed right now.”

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