Practicing Exclusively in Canadian Immigration Law
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Who we are
Steven Meurrens is a Partner at Larlee Rosenberg, a highly regarded law firm in Vancouver, British Columbia that practices exclusively in Canadian immigration law.
Practice Areas
Our firm practices almost exclusively in Canadian immigration matters, including work permit applications, provincial nominations, skilled worker applications, and more.
Immigration Blog
The Return of Incomplete Applications
I have previously written in this blog about how Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada ("IRCC') has adapted an exceptionally strict approach to returning applications for incompleteness. I have also written in Policy Options about how frustrating this approach can be, because one of its main purposes appears to be to allow politicians to boast about reduced processing times, while ignoring the fact that the experience of individuals who are actually applying is actually often longer than previously. I wrote: The current rigid triage system distorts a fair comparison of processing times. Suppose an individual applies to sponsor a spouse to immigrate to Canada and forgets to include in one of the forms the city where a non-accompanying brother was born. Previously, processing might have been delayed by two to three months while IRCC contacted the family, informed them of the mistake and requested they provide the information. Now, IRCC would instead return the application one to two months after it is submitted, and the family would have to resubmit. If some supporting documents have expired, they may have to reobtain them, and the process can easily take several months. Under the previous system, this delay would have added two to ...
Temporary Resident Permits
On June 28, 2019 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada substantially changed the guidance that it provides to officers regarding the issuance of Temporary Resident Permits ("TRPs"). The biggest change was the removal of the statement that TRPs could not be issued for administrative convenience. People who do not meet the requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (the "IRPA"), and most commonly people who are criminally inadmissible to Canada and who are not eligible to apply for rehabilitation, require TRPs in order to enter or remain in Canada.
IRCC/ESDC Employer Compliance Inspections
All employers of temporary foreign workers in Canada need to understand how the employer compliance regime works. Both Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada ("IRCC") as well as the Department of Employment and Social Development ("ESDC") regularly audit and inspect the employers of foreign workers to make sure that they are complying with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and/or the International Mobility Program (which are the two main programs through which foreign nationals can work in Canada). Both ESDC and IRCC have indicated that about 25% of employers can expect an inspection in any given year. Most of these inspections and audits start with the employer receiving a letter from the Government of Canada informing them that they will be examined on a multitude of factors, including whether they have employed the foreign national in the job that they were supposed to, whether they paid the wages that they were supposed to, whether the employer complied with laws regulating employment, whether they maintained records and whether they took reasonable efforts to provide a workplace that was free of abuse. I have embedded below the standard employer compliance letter that is sent out at the start of an audit. Consequences of Non-Compliance There ...
