On December 15, 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) updates its Labour Market Impact Assessment (“LMIA”) exemption codes. An LMIA is an opinion from Service Canada that the entry of a foreign worker will have a positive or neutral impact on the Canadian labour market. To obtain a positive LMIA employers must generally recruit … Read More
Self Employment and The Canadian Experience Class
The Canadian Experience Class (the “CEC”) is an immigration program for skilled workers who have Canadian work experience and want to become permanent residents. Regulation 87.1(3)(b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations provides that any period of self-employment shall not be included in calculating Canadian work experience under the CEC. The Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada … Read More
New Regulations to Protect Foreign Workers
On September 26, 2022, regulatory changes to Canadian immigration law took effect with the goal being to increase protections for temporary foreign workers. All employers who currently employ, or wish to employ, foreign workers should understand these changes. In order to understand the changes, it is necessary to understand the distinction between the Temporary Foreign … Read More
Chinook
In addition to automated triaging Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) has also introduced software so that officers can bulk process applications. The software tool is known as Chinook. According to an affidavit that IRCC filed in Federal Court, Chinook is a standalone tool that streamlines administrative steps. Applicant information is extracted from their applications … Read More
Approaching Members of Parliament
A frequent question that people ask is what role their Member of Parliament can play in assisting them. Requests In my opinion, the biggest role an MP can play is getting a timely status update. MPs typically can get an update in 48 hours, as opposed to 30 days for an Access to Information Act request or … Read More
Artificial Intelligence and Canadian Immigration
When people submit applications to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada they typically have spent significant time carefully completing forms and assembling documents. They expect that their applications will be processed by visa officers who carefully review the information before them. However, applicants need to understand that their artificial intelligence is playing an increasing role in visa … Read More
Definition of Work and Paid
In Ogundiran v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2022 FC 1397, Madam Justice Heneghan stated that in Pathway for Health Workers the definition of “paid” could include stipends. It is important to note that the Department of Justice pointed to the Help section of the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) website which defines “paid” as … Read More
Temporary Residence Training Guide
The following is a 2014 training manual for processing temporary residence applications. Although it is quite old it is one of the better pieces of training materials that I have seen, and I recommend it for anyone looking to understand temporary resident processing, or a refresher.
Language Requirements and Work Permits
Regulation 200(3)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227 provides that an officer shall not issue a work permit to a foreign national if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the foreign national is unable to perform the work sought. An issue that is becomming increasingly common is whether someone has sufficient language ability … Read More
Sponsors
Part 7 Division 3 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (the “IRPR”) governs who can be a sponsor. It provides that in order to sponsor family members, a sponsor must: be 18 years of age or older; be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident; currently residein Canada if they are a permanent resident; file … Read More