Judicial review – permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds – Croatia – 2022

In 1992 the applicant, a citizen of present-day Croatia, applied to remain in Canada as a permanent resident through a special program in existence at the time for citizens of the former Yugoslavia. The Government of Canada lost that application. The applicant then applied to stay on humanitarian grounds and was refused because of miscommunication with his former representative. The Government of Canada promised they were still looking for the original 1992 application and they would inform him of the results. They never did.

In 2020, the applicant applied for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds again. The Government of Canada refused that application, completing misunderstanding the reasons for which the applicant stayed in Canada for so long without status, and ignoring the Government’s failures that led to this.

Anchor Law succeeded in a judicial review of the negative decision in Federal Court. The Court agreed that the decision was mistaken and sent it back to another officer for redetermination. Soon after, the application was accepted, and after three decades with no legal status in Canada the applicant is finally a permanent resident.