Immigration Blog

    Erin Brandt is a co-founder of PortaLaw, a Vancouver law firm which specializes in employment law. Audience submitted questions that we discuss include: Is it illegal for employers to not provide reference letters necessary for immigration purposes or to charge their employees for them? Is it illegal for employers with foreign worker employees to not apply for LMIAs to try to extend their employees’ employment? Can employers distinguish between Canadian citizens, permanent residents and foreign workers when hiring? Can an employer not hire a foreign national or asylum claimant if they are likely to be deported? Is it ok for an employer to ask if someone is an asylum claimant? If an employer learns that an employee is without status – and the employee lied to them – can they legitimately refuse to pay the employee out for work completed during this time? If in order to meet prevailing wage an employer increases the wages of all of their LMIA-based TFWs, is it discrimination to not also increase it for their permanent resident or Canadian employees? We also discuss the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Imperial Oil Limited v. Haseeb, 2023 ONCA 364, upheld a Human Rights … Read More

The following is an IRCC one-pager on the major ceremonies of a Punjabi wedding.

This episode answers a listener topic request about an increase in IRCC refusals of provincial nominees. As well, Steven offers his unimpressed thoughts on Marc Miller’s recent statement in response to complaints about huge decreases in provincial nominee quotas that “Provinces and Territories that are willing to work in a responsible manner with Canada, including playing a role in taking on asylum seekers, will have an opportunity to regain coveted Provincial Nominee spots.”

<iframe src=”https://embed.acast.com/659f464c3f69070017409684/67991fb2a234f420da42816b?theme=light” frameBorder=”0″ width=”100%” height=”110px”></iframe> On January 21, 2025, IRCC restricted the availability of open spousal work permits to principal applicants working in certain “skilled” professions. Family open work permits are now limited to spouses of foreign workers who are employed in TEER 0 or 1 occupations, or select TEER 2 or 3 occupations in sectors with labour shortages or linked to government priorities such as natural and applied sciences, construction, health care, natural resources, education, sports and military sectors. The move more than reversed a December 2, 2022, announcement that IRCC would be allowing most spouses of workers in Canada to obtain open work permits because, according to the government, it would “improve the emotional well-being, physical health and financial stability of workers by keeping families together” and that the “worker will better integrate into their overall work environment and community.”

In Sayekan v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2025 FC 97, the Court reiterated that a cover letter can create a presumption that a document was submitted.

In Brar v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2025 FC 130, Justice Norris reiterated that the right to have counsel present at an interview has been recognized as an element of procedural fairness.  While visa officers have the discretion to exclude counsel from an interview, that discretion must be exercised consistently with the duty of fairness and in light of the particular facts of the case. In order to demonstrate that there was a breach of procedural fairness, it must be demonstrated what would have been different had counsel been permitted to attend.

Christopher Worswick is a Professor of Economics at Carleton University. We discuss the economics of Canada’s plan to reduce its population, and specifically that 1,000,000 – 2,000,000 foreign students and workers will leave Canada from 2025-2027. Topics include impacts on GDP per capita, unemployment, housing and more.