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
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
Settlement Funds
Regulation 76(1)(b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227 provides that: For the purpose of determining whether a skilled worker, as a member of the federal skilled worker class, will be able to become economically established in Canada, they must be assessed on the basis of the following criteria: (b) the skilled worker must (i) have in the form of transferable and available funds, unencumbered by debts or other obligations, an amount equal to one half of the minimum necessary income applicable in respect of the group of persons consisting of the skilled worker and their family members. Applicants are not required to have settlement funds if the applicant is authorized to work in Canada and has been awarded points for a qualifying offer of arranged employment under Express Entry or for arranged employment in Canada. The funds must be available and transferable; unencumbered by debts or other obligations; and sufficient to support initial establishment in Canada. IRCC Questions and Answers The following are two questions that lawyers asked IRCC’s IMMrep department, and the response. Question – To what extent are people able to use funds within “investment accounts” to satisfy the proof of funds requirement? Question – To what extent … Read More
Statistics on Removals
The following PDF contains internal Canada Border Services Agency documentation regarding removals from 2012-2019. It includes removals broken down by inadmissibility, the number of administrative deferrals of removals, yearly removal priorities, breakdowns by top country, cost of removals, the number of outstanding removal orders and temporary suspensions of removal.
Migration Office Overview – Berlin
The following is the 2018 Migration Office Overview for Berlin.
C-14 Work Permits
On February 17, 2016, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) introduced a Labour Market Impact Assessment (“LMIA”) exemption for foreign nationals in the television and film industry whose position or occupation is essential to a TV or film production. On September 13, 2021 IRCC narrowed the LMIA exemption. The exemption previously read: (exemption code C14) – Canada.ca”] The current requirements are that the work that a foreign national is performing must be: essential to a live-action TV or film project in the production stage (filming): Essential positions are those where the physical presence of foreign workers on location in Canada is required to generate the expected benefit; be high wage: Evidence of high-wage work is meant to establish that Canada will reap a significant economic benefit (for example, tax revenue) from hiring a foreign national and to protect the Canadian labour market from wage suppression; unionized: Proof of unionized work demonstrates that the employment of the foreign national is critical to the production occurring in Canada while protecting the direct employment of Canadians. Occupations that may meet these criteria include, but are not limited to, actors and actresses, directors, stunt persons, lighting specialists and choreographers. Consideration under this exemption is … Read More
Borderlines Podcast Episode #46 – An Interview with Sergio Marchi, Canada’s Immigration Minister from 1993-1995
Sergio Marchi was Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration from 1993-1995. 3:00 – Does someone keep the Minister title their whole life? 4:50 – What was the political consensus regarding Canadian immigration at the end of the 1980s? How did the Reform Party impact things? 8:00 – The mix of immigrants between economic, family and humanitarian immigrants. 11:15 – What dictates whether IRCC meets its level targets? 14:30 – The Brian Mulroney government was considering moving immigration under Public Safety. Under Sergio Marchi it instead became it’s on Ministry. What prompted this? 17:30 – Canadian attitudes to refugee resettlements and misconceptions. 20:45 – Sources of resistance to refugee resettlement. Resettled refugees vs asylum seekers. 23:00 – Changes that Minister Marchi made to the refugee determination process. 25:00 – What was Minister Marchi’s approach to intervening on specific cases? When would Minister Marchi help Members of Parliament on constituent files? Did it matter which political party the MP was from? 32:00 – The impact of a police officer who was shot by an illegal immigrant on deportation policy. 36:00 – Whether the Canada Border Services Agency should be under the immigration umbrella. 37:30 – What Minister Marchi considers to be his … Read More
Borderlines Podcast Episode 45 – Spousal Sponsorship Delays and Refusals, with Chantal Dube and Syed Farhan Ali
Syed Farhan Ali shares his Canadian immigration story. During the time that his spousal sponsorship application was in process he was denied temporary entry to Canada, missed the birth of his first child and missed her first steps. He recently arrived in Canada after a three year application process. Chantal Dube is a Spokesperson for Spousal Sponsorship Advocates, a group with more than 5,000 members in Canada that argues for reforms to the family reunification process. 3:15 Said tells the story of his spousal sponsorship application. His application took 34 months to process. During the processing of his application Canada denied his visitor visa applications. He missed the birth of his children and their first steps, although he was able to reunite with his wife during brief trips to the United States, which did grant him a visitor visa. 21:00 We discuss the refusal of temporary resident visas for people with spousal sponsorship applications in process, people with frequent travel histories, people with American multiple entry visas, and judicial reviews. 25:00 How long a judicial review takes. 29:50 Assessing genuineness in a spousal sponsorship application, and the distinction between “low risk and high risk” in the checklists. 33:00 The … Read More
Refusal to Process a Labour Market Impact Assessment
A Labour Market Impact Assessment (a “LMIA“) is an assessment by the Department of Employment and Social Development Canada (“ESDC“) that the hiring of a foreign worker will have a positive, neutral or negative impact on Canada’s labour market. An LMIA is often a requirement to hire a foreign worker. There are certain situations in which ESDC will refuse to issue a LMIA. This effectively precludes employers from utilizing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (the “TFWP“). The Sex Industry Regulations 183(b.1) and 196.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (the “IRPR”) provides that temporary residents are prohibited from entering into an employment agreement, or extending the term of an employment agreement, with an employer who, on a regular basis, offers striptease, erotic dance, escort services or erotic massages. Regulation 200(3)(g.1) of the IRPR further provides that work permits cannot be issued to workers who intend to work for employers who, on a regular basis, offers striptease, erotic dance, escort services or erotic massages. Because of this, ESDC will not issue LMIAs to employers who regularly offer services in the sex industry (striptease, erotic dance, escort services or erotic massage). Ineligilibity List Employers who hire temporary workers may be inspected to … Read More