Category Archive

When applying for Canadian immigration, whether it’s for permanent residency, a work permit, or another visa category, one of the most critical aspects of the process is adhering to deadlines set by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC“). Missing a deadline can have serious consequences, including delays, application rejections, or even being barred from applying again for a certain period. Here’s why meeting these deadlines is crucial to the success of your immigration application. Avoiding Application Rejections IRCC enforces strict deadlines to ensure that applications move through the process efficiently. Failing to submit required documents or information on time could result in the rejection of your application as incomplete. Once an application is rejected, the entire process must be restarted, which can cost time, money, and opportunity. For example, submitting your proof of funds, police certificates, or medical exams after the deadline may lead to IRCC refusing your application, regardless of how strong your case is otherwise. Even a simple oversight can have significant consequences. Preventing Unnecessary Delays Submitting everything before the deadline ensures that your application progresses without delays. Any delay on your part can cause IRCC to pause your application while waiting for missing information. The Canadian immigration … Read More

  Raj Sharma is an immigration lawyer in Calgary. We discuss spousal sponsorship applications and appeals, showing that a relationship is genuine, arranged marriage, the primary purpose of a marriage, interview preparation, how Immigration Appeal Division appeals work, interpretation issues, in person hearings vs. remote, res judicata and inconsistencies in a relationship history.

  Andrew Hayes is an American immigration lawyer who practices out of Vancouver, British Columbia. He previously appeared on episodes #32 – Keep Out the Poor – How Canada and the US Address Immigrants on Welfare, with Andrew Hayes, #37 – The Closure of the Canada – US Border and the Supreme Court’s DACA Decision, and #41 – Judges Virtue Signalling Inside and Outside of Court. We discuss various types of US visa refusals, including administrative processing and ESTA cancellations, and the uncertainty in Canadian immigration law of whether these constitute refusals that need to be disclosed in applications. Also covered are denials of entry to the United States, with a particular focus on what actually happens at US Customs and Border Patrol when someone flagpoles.

The following chart shows asylum claims by international students broken down by DLI from 2018 to 2023.

  Part 1 of 2 in a historical deep dive of Chinese immigration to Canada. This episode covers the period of 1850 – 1885, and includes an overview of events in China at the time (including the Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion), Chinese migration during the British Columbia gold rush, the merger of the Colony of Vancouver Island and the Colony of British Columbia, numerous British Columbian laws designed to make reduce the number of Chinese in the Province, the building of the Trans Canada Railway, the Royal Commission on Chinese Migration to Canada and the Chinese Head Tax.

  Zeynab Ziaie Moayyed is an immigration lawyer in Toronto. She can be found on X at @ZeynabZiaie We discuss Chinook, AI triage and IRCC’s Integrity Trend Analysis Tool.

  Petra Molnar is a lawyer and anthropologist specializing in migration and human rights. We discuss her recent book, The Walls Have Eyes Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Topics include the use of technology at borders, surveillance, the role of the private sector, the border industrial complex, Palantir and other companies, whether countries may withdraw from refugee conventions, ankle monitoring, UNHCR camps, the Belarus-Poland border, and more.

Over the course of the past several years I have noticed a steady increase in the number of what I call digital nomads seeking to immigrate to Canada.  These individuals, often avid readers of Tim Ferris’s The Four Hour Work Week, typically work from home.  They are hyper efficient, and through delegation and automation can accomplish in twenty hours what most people take forty hours to do.  They work on contract, often with multiple employers, or are self-employed.  While they have skills that would make them very marketable in the Canadian labour force, most do not want to give up the freedom that they have built just to obtain permanent residency. The question that they all have is simple. Can they immigrate to Canada without having to become an employee? Economic Immigration Programs Specifically for Entrepreneurs Most Canadian economic immigration programs discourage self-employment.  For example, in the Canadian Experience Class, self-employment in Canada does not count towards the one-year work experience requirement.  In Express Entry, meanwhile, self-employment does not earn any points for Canadian work experience.  Most skills-based provincial nomination programs also prohibit independent contractor work, and even set caps on what percentage of a Canadian business a prospective immigrant … Read More

  Mikal Skuterud is a Professor at the University of Waterloo. We discuss the impact of immigration on housing prices, foreign workers, lumping Francophone migration objectives under economic immigration, international graduates facing barriers to immigrating and more. Mikal’s previous appearance on Borderlines can be downloaded here. The former immigration minister interviews that Mikal mentions include Chris Alexander, John McCallum and Sergio Marchi.

  Canada’s Federal Court is conducting a review of its rules. We discuss some of the proposals, which include letting consultants do judicial review, an upcomming pilot project to simplify judicial reviews, whether filing fees should be increased, ways to reduce the number of judicial reviews, and more. Cheryl Robinson is an immigration lawyer in Ontario.