Immigration Blog

  Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. He previous worked as a senior strategic analyst at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. We discuss CSIS’s role in Canadian immigration screening, the increase in comprehensive background checks, how CSIS and CBSA divide up security work, the Bishnoi gang, Bill C-12, delays in applications from China, mandamus and whether Canada lacks a national security culture. 05:26 – How CSIS does immigration security screening and the dramatic increase in comprehensive background checks 10:08 – Why every citizenship application goes to CSIS for security screening 15:03 – Canada’s choices: lax screening, less immigration, more surveillance… or something else? 21:16 – Delays, disenfranchisement & back-end vs front-end screening 31:26 – CSIS vs CBSA vs IRCC: who does what in screening? 37:00 – Security vs human rights 42:01 – International students, volume and how the system can be exploited 49:04 – Timelines, CSIS capacity, and mandamus in Federal Court Audience Questions 54:40 – Do friends and family with extreme beliefs trigger concern? 56:47 – How common is espionage in Canada? 1:02:59 – What can be done to improve transparency?

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 being wages, however, Madam Justice Heneghan said that there was nothing to link that section of the Help portion of the IRCC website to the Pathway for Health Care Workers. IMMReps  

  Deanna, Sadaf Kashfi and Caroline Senini discuss your rights and obligations at the border, the intersection of immigration and criminal law, unreasonable search and seizure, mandatory minimum sentences and the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Quebec (Attorney General) v. Senneville, and more. Sadaf Kashfi is the founder of DMF Law, a Vancouver immigration & criminal-defence litigation boutique. Caroline Senini is a Partner at Peck and Company, where she practices in constitutional and regulatory matters, at both trial and appeal.

Greg Chubak retired from IRCC in 2022. He was posted to South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore and the program manager in Hungary, Malaysia, Seattle, Sri Lanka and Austria. We discuss what programs have worked and haven’t over the years, applications for authorization to return to Canada, rehabilitation applications, difficult cases, what concerns Greg about the direction of immigration law.

The Permit Holder Class provides a permanent residence pathway for individuals who hold a valid temporary resident permit (“TRP”) and who remain inadmissible to Canada on the same grounds that originally led to the permit’s issuance. This class is designed for people who have demonstrated long-term compliance and establishment in Canada despite previous inadmissibility. Eligibility Based on Health Inadmissibility An applicant may qualify for permanent residence under this class if: The initial inadmissibility was due to health reasons; The individual currently holds a valid temporary resident permit; The individual has resided continuously in Canada as a permit holder for at least three years; The same health-related inadmissibility persists at the time of application; and There are no additional grounds of inadmissibility, such as criminality or security concerns. Eligibility Based on Other Grounds of Inadmissibility An applicant may also qualify if the inadmissibility was for reasons other than health, provided that those reasons do not include security risks, human-rights violations, organized crime, or serious criminality. In such cases, eligibility requires that: A valid temporary resident permit remains in effect; The individual has resided continuously in Canada as a permit holder for at least five years; The same grounds of inadmissibility that … Read More

  Lorne Waldman, one of Canada’s most recognized immigration litigators, joins to discuss some of his most landmark cases, today’s processing and refugee backlogs, mandamus and where economic immigration policy is headed. Co-hosts Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff also field listener questions on enhanced security screening, immigration consequences of sentencing, Express Entry trends, and practical career advice for junior counsel. Timestamps 3:12 – Maher Arar inquiry 5:41 – Niqab/citizenship-oath litigation 6:46 – Backlog cancellation class action 8:33 – Security certificates 12:13 – Pushpanathan 15:32 – Refugee health care 17:46 – The Bill of Rights and citizenship revocation 20:57 – Public opinion shift on immigration 26:49 – RPD/Federal Court backlogs and triage failures 37:07 – Federal Court inefficiencies 40:12 – Q&A: Security screening delays 49:51 – Bill C-220: should judges consider immigration consequences at sentencing? 1:00:04 – Express Entry 1:05:57 – Career advice for junior immigration lawyers

The following is an IMMRep response on the issue of employers of record. Here is another one from 2024.