Category Archive

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.

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 a sponsorship application in respect of a family member in accordance with section 10; and if the sponsor landed as a principal applicant through a family reunification stream, wait 5 years since the date of landing before they submit the sponsorship application. Although the IRPR does not explicitly state it, Registered Indians are also eligible to sponsor family members. Legislation Training Manuals Several Family Class training manuals.

The following are several Memorandums to the Minister about the immigration program for out of status construction workers.

Regulation 4.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227 (the “IRPR“) provides that: 4.1 For the purposes of these Regulations, a foreign national shall not be considered a spouse, a common-law partner or a conjugal partner of a person if the foreign national has begun a new conjugal relationship with that person after a previous marriage, common-law partnership or conjugal partnership with that person was dissolved primarily so that the foreign national, another foreign national or the sponsor could acquire any status or privilege under the Act. This section is often referred to as prohibiting “divorces of convenience.” Jurisprudence In Fang v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2020 FC 851, Madam Justice Walker explained that regulation 4.1 of the IRPR “prevents a couple from appearing to dissolve an existing relationship to permit one spouse to obtain immigration status in Canada, for example through a non-genuine relationship with a Canadian citizen [or permanent resident], only to subsequently resurrect the initial relationship.” Madam Justice Walker also stated that section 4.1 is premised on three conjunctive elements to determine whether someone is caught by the provision.  Justice Southcott succintly summarized the test as follows in Zhang v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2021 FC 744: the immigration … Read More

The following PDF is the Instructor’s Guide and Participant’s Guide for processing permanent residence applications.

Aditya Mohan is the founder of Robometrics, a company at the forefront of the intersection of artificial intelligence and human emotions like empahty. We discuss the increasing use of artificial intelligence in Canadian immigration legislation, its benefits, and ways to increase transparency and oversight.   8:00 – What are deep learning systems? 14:00 – How does the use of artificial intelligence intersect with the rule of law? 21:00 – How do machines learn? 24:00 – Benefits of machine learning and immigration. 27:00 – Ways to improve transparency. 41:00 – Artificial intelligence providing reasons for refusals.

A discussion about the increasing use of artificial intelligence to decide immigration applications. Mario Bellissimo is a Canadian immigration lawyer in Toronto, and the former past Chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s National Immigration Law Section.   4:00 How imprecise wording in the forms can result in misrepresentation findings where immigration becomes a game of gotcha. 10:30 How the laws of procedural fairness and discretion will need to be re-written as a result of the implementation of artificial intelligence and predicative learning in immigration systems. 13:30 How using AI to triage applications is itself a form of automated decision making and why is there a lack of transparency about this? 19:25 The history of the introduction of AI at IRCC. 28:20 What is Chinook and ? 36:00 How processing delays can lead to applications being denied simply because they are moot. 39:00 How does one learn what AI is being used or whether a decision was made by AI? 44:45 If AI flags a file as being problematic does that create a proxy decision wherein a visa officer will want to affirm the AI. 55:00 Is it possible that AI will lead to a better immigration system as the AI … Read More

Carl Brault worked for almost twenty years at the Canada Border Services Agency. His roles included Border Services Officer, Intelligence Analyst and Inland Enforcement Officer. He currently provides consultation services to authorized immigration representatives and can be reached at cb-advisingservices@outlook.com. 3:00 Working as a summer student as a Border Services Officer. 6:30 September 11, 2011 9:50 What kind of training does a CBSA officer receive before they start working at the border? 18:10 Working as a CBSA Intelligence Analyst 21:30 Working as an Inland Enforcement Officer 25:00 Is CBSA understaffed or overstaffed? 28:30 Level of autonomy officers have in deferral requests. 38:30 What should lawyers or individuals do when making deferral of removal requests? 42:30 The ability of CBSA to make positive decisions by not acting. 48:30 What is the difference in culture across different offices? 51:15 What are examples of where counsel harms their clients cause at CBSA? 54:00 Do CBSA officers care about how lawyers are dressed? 56:30 Has the attitude towards removals at CBSA regarding removals gotten more rigid? 1:05:00 Do CBSA officers want more discretion when it comes to removals

Sarah Runyon is a criminal defense lawyer on Vancouver Island. 3:00 What is sexual assault? 5:30 Is all sex between an employer and employee deemed to be non consensual? 6:00 Why was sexual assault separated from general assault? Is rape a distinct offence from sexual assault? Are there degrees of sexual assault? 7:30 If someone is at a nightclub and they start dancing with another person without their consent does that fit the definition of sexual assault? 15:00 Evidentiary issues. 16:30 Often the criminal defense bar wants judges to have a wide discretion in terms of what they can consider. Is this the same in the case of sexual assault? 21:00 Does the maxim “it is better that five guilty people go free than one innocent person go to jail.” Is the legal system moving away from this in sexual assault? 27:00 Is a restorative justice approach better than the current criminal justice system? 28:45 Can sexual assault be verbal? 33:00 Is revenge porn sexual assault? 34:00 Is there a statutory limitation on sexual assault? 35:00 Is being drunk a defense to sexual assault? 44:00 If someone is drunk are they capable of consent? 48:30 How does one determine whether … Read More

Cristina Guida is a senior associate lawyer with Green and Spiegel LLP in Toronto. We discuss authorization to work in Canada without a work permit, including business visitors, students, perfroming artists, maintained status, the global skills strategy and other categories. We also discuss what Canada’s immigration department continues to be “work.”