Canadian Immigration Provides Instructions for FSW Backlog Wipe-out Fee Refund

The return of application fees to those affected by the wipe-out of the pre-February 27 2008 FSW backlog will be processed by CIC

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) issued a notice on Friday instructing those affected by the wipe-out of the pre-February 27, 2008 Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) application backlog to submit a form informing the department of their current address in order to have their fee return processed.

Approximately 280,000 FSW applications filed before the Feb. 27th 2008 were wiped out with the enactment of Bill C-38 on June 29, 2012, with the federal government committing to return the application fees paid by those affected.

Friday’s notice asks those whose FSW applications were likely affected by the new law to submit a completed RETURN OF PROCESSING FEE, RIGHT OF PERMANENT RESIDENCE FEE OR RIGHT OF LANDING FEE form to CIC.

The first contingent of applicants to have their fees returned will be those who had contacted CIC to enquire about their fee refund before Friday’s notice. The next group to be refunded will be those who update CIC about their current address by submitting the above linked form. Finally, CIC will contact the remaining applicants and attempt to verify their current mailing address before processing their fee return.