Resident who waited more than 20 years for citizenship sued immigration minister
He won. The IRCC will pay him $65,000 CAD.
An unprecedented case was heard in a Canadian court.
Mahmoud Sharafaldin is a citizen of Iran. In 1995, the Refugee Determination Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada accepted his application for refugee protection. He became a permanent resident of Canada in 1996.
At the end of 1999, he applied for citizenship status — and that application is still pending.
Reportedly, all the requirements for citizenship were met. There were some problems with security checks, but by 2004 they had been investigated and corrected.
After that, while awaiting a decision, Sharafaldin visited Iran three times between 2007 and 2009, for a total of 18 months. His trips, combined with a host of new immigration laws, became a stumbling block to the Iranian's path to Canadian citizenship.
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