In 2019 the approval rates for permanent residence applications processed overseas was as follows.
Misrepresentation When the Information Is Readily Available to a Visa Officer
Section 40 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act provides that a permanent resident or foreign national is inadmissible to Canada for directly or indirectly misrepresenting or withholding a material fact relating to a relevant matter that induces or could induce an error in the administration of Canada’s immigration laws. The general consequence of misrepresenting is a five-year ban from entering Canada. An issue that often arises is where an applicant mistates or omits information in their visa application, but the information is readily available to a visa officer. Koo v. Canada Koo v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2008 FC 931 is the most frequently cited case on this issue. There, an applicant failed to disclose that he had previously applied for permanent residence, and that the application had been refused. Justice Montigny stated that: I shall now turn to the alleged misrepresentation with respect to the applicant’s previous application for permanent residence. The error occurred when the applicant checked off the “yes” box to the question whether he had “previously sought refugee status in Canada or applied for a Canadian immigrant or permanent resident visa or visitor or temporary resident visa”, but checked off the “no” box to … Read More
Canadian Immigration Embassy Interview Strategies and Tips
When visa officers have concerns regarding a completed application, they often convoke interviews. The interview provides the applicants to address these concerns. In this post I hope to convey to applicants the basic procedural fairness rules that they can expect.
The Reciprocal Employment LMIA Exemption
Regulation 205(b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations provides that a work permit may be issued to a foreign national without the employer needing to first obtain a Labour Market Impact Assessment if the the employment of the foreign national in Canada would create or maintain reciprocal employment of Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada in other countries. Some obvious examples of where such work permits are frequently issued include in sports leagues such as the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, as well as the Canada World Youth exchange. International Experience Canada, including its most popular program – the Working Holiday Program – also falls under this Labour Market Impact Assessment, as do reciprocal employment arrangements in academia. What is less commonly known, however, is that multinational corporations can also take advantage of this Labour Market Impact Assessment exemption. To qualify, the employer must demonstrate that reciprocity exists. This can be demonstrated by a work contract (if it provides evidence of reciprocity), a Human Resources Global Mobility Policy that demonstrates a balance of bilateral flow, and/or other documents that show that Canadian foreign workers benefit from the ability to travel abroad within the company. As the IRCC website states regarding C-20 … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #54 – Building the Law Career that You Want, with Dennis McCrea
Dennis McCrea was the founder of McCrea Immigration Law. He started practicing immigration law in 1974, and was one of the original members of Vancouver’s immigration bar. In this episode we discuss how to build an immigration practice, how the practice of immigration law has evolved, avoiding burnout and more. 3:00 – How lawyers use to interact with visa officers. 6:00 – The formation of the immigration bar. 11:30 – Thoughts on whether it is possible to have both a corporate immigration practice and a refugee or enforcement practice. 15:30– Did the practice of immigration law become more or less fun over time? 18:00 – What kept Dennis motivated when it came to practicing immigration law? 22:30 – What type of cases did Dennis enjoy the most? 26:00 – What are some tools that lawyers can use to prevent burnout? 41:00 – Did the practice of immigration law vary depending on which political party were in power? 42:00 – How to retire. 45:00 – How can junior lawyers who are trying to build a practice have time for hobbies? 48:00 – How Steven and Deanna got into immigration. 58:00 – Growing a firm. 1:03:00 – Should you article at an … Read More
Statistics Canada – Immigration
The following are charts from Statistics Canada related to various immigration topics. 1) Likelihood to Have Received CERB https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2021001/article/00021-eng.pdf 2) Median Wage and Previous Permits Data reveals that people who immigrate to Canada after previously having a study permit but no work permit have lower wages than immigrants who never studied in Canada at all. Age may be an explanation. Immigrants sponsored by family Economic immigrants, principal applicant Economic immigrants, spouse and dependent Refugees 2010 57.2 75.4 65.4 63.5 2011 55.4 71.9 65.3 60.8 2012 55.4 70.4 65.2 60.1 2013 55.9 70.3 66.6 63.6 2014 57.4 69.0 67.9 63.2 2015 59.9 70.3 69.0 66.5 2016 60.8 71.4 70.8 67.1 2017 62.0 71.6 71.7 70.4 2018 64.3 71.5 73.2 74.4 2019 65.5 72.1 75.1 75.9
What Will Cause A Refused NEXUS Application
As I have previously written about in this blog, there are numerous benefits to being a member in the NEXUS program. Membership in NEXUS enables people to save time through the use of automatic self-serve kiosks at airports, designated lanes at the land border, and expedited security procedures at airports. Indeed, on November 13, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority started a pilot project featuring a new, expedited screening line for NEXUS members at the security screening checkpoint for flights to the U.S. in Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson International Airport. NEXUS members who participate in this pilot are permitted to keep shoes, belts and light jackets on and leave laptops, large electronics, and compliant liquids, aerosols and gels in carry-on bags. For many people, one of the frustrating things about the NEXUS program is that the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA“) website is very vague as to what may cause Canada to refuse someone’s NEXUS application. It states: Canada’s Presentation of Persons (2003) Regulations, SOR/2003-323 (the “PoP Regulations“) are also not clear as to what may disqualify someone from being able to enrol in NEXUS. The Regulations state: 6. The Minister may issue an authorization to a person to present themself in an alternative manner described in paragraph … Read More
Appealing Loss of NEXUS Cards and NEXUS Application Rejections
Anyone who travels frequently understands the benefits of NEXUS membership. At airports, NEXUS members avoid long line-ups and save time using automated self-serve kiosks at eight designated Canadian international airports. The wait-times are much less than they are for non-NEXUS passengers. As well, NEXUS members are expedited through Canadian Air Transport Security Authority airport security screening lanes. This is the case even on domestic flights. Those crossing the US-Canada border by land enjoy a quick and simplified entry process using dedicated lanes. Wait-times are generally a fraction of what they are for non-NEXUS members. It is not uncommon for the NEXUS lane(s) to be empty while the non-NEXUS lanes have wait-times exceeding one hour. If you’ve never heard of NEXUS, you should read more about it on the CBSA website here. Considering all the benefits which membership in NEXUS provides, it is understandable why people whose NEXUS membership applications are rejected often seek recourse, as do people who lose their NEXUS. Legislation Regulation 6.1 of the Presentation of Persons (2003) Regulations, SOR/2003-323 provides that: NEXUS program (air, land and marine) 6.1 The Minister may issue an authorization that is recognized in both Canada and the United States to a person, other than … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #49 – The Supreme Court of Canada decision in Chieu and the Ribic Factors
Chieu v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2002 SCC 3 was a landmark Supreme Court of Canada which affirmed the use of the Ribic factors in the H&C assessment. We discuss these factors and how they are used in immigration appeals. 1:00 – How the assessment of Humanitarian & Compassionate considerations has become somewhat nebulus. 4:00 – A case study of Chieu v. Canada 10:00 – What is an example of a negative country condition in someone’s country of citizenship? 13:00 – The decision and principles in Chieu. 15:00 – The Federal Court of Canada in Zhang v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2020 FC 927, which seems to limit Chieu. 16:00 – The Ribic factors and the types of immigration appeals. 20:00 How much weight each factor should get. 25:00 – Stories about our appeals. 32:00 – The remorse factor and flexibility. 45:00 – The counter arguments to considering country of citizenship conditions. 50:00 – Consents on appeal.
Borderlines Podcast Episode 48 – Responding to Procedural Fairness Letters, with Raj Sharma
A discussion about responding to procedural fairness letters with digressions on possible bias against people from Punjab, unreasonable documentation requests, tunnel vision amongst visa officers, how if an officer goes out looking for misrepresentation in an application they will probably find it, aggressively banning people from Canada as a deterrance policy, IRCC misleading Parliament about whether it bounces applications for incompleteness and more. Raj Sharma is a Partner at Stewart Sharma Harsanyi in Calgary. He can be found on Twitter @immlawyercanada. 2:30 When does IRCC have to send a procedural fairness letter vs. being able to refuse an application without one? 15:00 Specific issues with the Canadian visa offices in New Delhi and Chandigarh. 21:00 Racialized assessments of visa applications. 23:00 Why hunting for misrep can lead to misrep findings. 25:00 Misrepresentation as a deterrence policy. 35:00 Is there a specific focus on Punjabs? 44:00 Can you tell if someone is lying as soon as you meet them at the start of an interview? 46:00 Preet Bharara on investigations 50:00 When IRCC believes that a job is fake because no employer would wait as long as IRCC’s processing times to fill a position. 1:00 Procedural fairness letters in the citizenship … Read More