Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Criminal Immigrants

A W-Five story canvassed various immigrants in Canada yet to be deported due to criminality and contrasted them with 'good' illegal immigrants who have been denied status in Canada. Link found here. The article quotes Richard Kurland (now advocating a 'insurance premium' on individuals with Canadian passports, no longer resident in Canada - and reaping benefits from citizenship - aka the rescued dual nationals from Lebanon): He [Kurland] says the system is set up to go after people who are easy to deport. "What's easier for you to do? Catch grandmothers or criminals?" says Kurland. "It's as simple as that. Do you want to finish your day at 5:30 or 1:00 in the afternoon? If you go after the grandmothers and the sisters, you're home early. If you want to go after the hardened criminals, you got to burn that midnight oil." I think a lot of Enforcement Officers at CBSA would take issue with Kurland's generalization. My own impressions with CBSA is that there is an effort to remove criminals from Canada, and that they are in fact prioritized over the labourer from Costa Rica who has filed a 'unmeritorious' refugee claim or has overstayed his visa. Read more →

No advantage to Business Class

Business class immigration applications have dropped signficantly since 1993. In that year, 7,217 entrepreneurs landed in Canada compared to 3,341 in 2005. Generally speaking, there are no immigration processing time advantage to a business class application. Processing times are approaching 5 years - including over 39 months for the UK and somewhere in the 60 month range for India. As noted in the Toronto Star article: "They [business class applicants] are not going to put their money and business plans on hold for five years to wait for a decision". The article goes on to note the loss of investment given the drop in numbers. Toronto Star article accessed 31 July 2006 at here. It does not appear (at least in this writer's opinion) that business class is CIC's priority; given the labour shortage provincial nominee programs, foreign workers, and skilled workers with approved employment in Canada are the only immigrants coming to Canada with less than a year/year-and half processing times. Read more →

Sad, sad story

Here's a story of a Canadian who went to India looking for love. Click here to read this bachara's kahani. Read more →

Teen Terror Suspect Freed on Bail

Number of articles on the the youngest Toronto terror suspect - released on "stringent bail conditions": Toronto Star article here. CBC article here. Canada.com article here. Read more →

Harkat ordered deported

CBSA has moved against Harkat, the Algerian national accused of having terrorist links. A deportation 'decision' was provided to his counsel late last week, ordering his removal notwithstanding his fear of being tortured in his country of origin: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/07/18/canada.terror.deport.ap/ The CNN article is short on the legal specifics of this 'deportation' decision. It's clear that Harkat's counsel will be applying for leave and judicial review by the Federal Court with respect to the '55 page' decision. Additional details are found on Canadian sites, which note that Harkat won't be deported 'anytime soon': http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=afc5a2b8-ab66-4676-8528-29a1dc39475a&k=70139 http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060718/Harkat_ordered_deported_060718/20060718?hub=TopStories Read more →