OTTAWA -- The Federal Court has ruled that the rights of would-be immigrants were not violated when the Conservative government closed their files and refunded their application fees to get rid of a massive backlog.
In a decision released Thursday, Federal Court Justice Donald Rennie said the move did not break any rules or violate the applicants' charter rights.
The government stopped accepting new applications under the federal skilled-worker program last July in advance of rejigging the system.
That followed a decision announced in the 2012 budget to wipe out an existing backlog in the program by returning thousands of applications.
"As noted earlier, the applicants have waited in the queue for many years only to find the entrance door closed," Rennie wrote in his decision.
"They see the termination of their hope for a new life in Canada to be an unfair, arbitrary and unnecessary measure."
Despite that, he ruled in favour of the Conservatives' decision to toss the old files.
The Federal Court ruling came on the same day the government unveiled its list of the 24 occupations that qualify under the revamped federal skilled-worker program, which is set to re-open next month.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada also named four organizations that will assess the credentials of applicants who studied outside of Canada.
These assessments are now mandatory and must be done before applications to the skilled-worker program are submitted.
Ottawa is also limiting the total number of applications to 5,000 -- including caps in each of the 24 eligible occupations.
The program will re-open May 4 with the new changes in effect.
