Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Application to Vacate Refugee Status

I just returned from Montreal after attending for a hearing - an Application to Vacate Refugee status. For a change, I thought I would include some pictures in the blog. Here's a picture of the IRB office entrance - at the Guy-Favreau Complex. Undoubtedly, the very sight has probably caused great anxiety for most if not all prospective refugee claimants with claims pending before the Board. In this case, the Minister makes application pursuant to s.109 of the Act. The Minister bears the onus and the standard of proof is that of balance of probabilities. What I found especially disconcerting - even after a heads up to expect this from Lorne Waldman - was the utter inadequacy and unreliability of the Minister's evidence. It seems that where, as in this case, CIC goes to 'investigate' or verify a refugee claimants' documents, there is little safeguard and even less methodology in their approach. A refugee claimant, having been found to merit protection, is thus at risk of losing that protection on hearsay (and worse) 'evidence'. My hotel was close to Rene Levesque Blvd - and I found this monument particularly relevant - "Charite". Hopefully the Board will demonstrate the same and... Read more →

s.117(9)(d), the IAD and applications under s.25

I’ve come across another unfortunate situation involving the heavy handed operation of s.117(9)(d) of the IRPA. The fact scenarios are usually relatively straightforward in such cases. An individual applies for permanent residence and for some reason or another does not disclose his family members (wife/children) at the time of the application. This non-disclosure can be result from a deliberate act or (disturbingly) simple inadvertence/lack of knowledge. In this case, the client was single at the time he completed the application, single at the time of his interview, and single at the time of his medical examination. He married only a month or so before landing, and given his language difficulties and his lack of knowledge did not articulate the fact that he was married when he landed at Pearson (nor, apparently, was he asked). Section 51 of the Regulations requires that someone seeking to become a permanent resident must inform the immigration officer at the port of entry of changes in their circumstances. An appeal to the IAD is (now) unlikely to succeed. While s.63(1) of the IRPA a person is permitted to make a sponsorship appeal to the IAD ... s.65 provides that the IAD cannot consider humanitarian and... Read more →

Application To Vacate Refugee Status

Next Monday I will be in the beautiful city of Montreal, QC to represent my client who is facing an application to vacate his refugee status. An application to vacate is generally rare, and is an application made by the Minister (CBSA) who needs to establish (on a balance of probabilities) that the applicant falls within the ambit of s. 109 of the IRPA: Immigration and Refugee Protection Act PART 2: REFUGEE PROTECTION Division 2: Convention Refugees and Persons in Need of Protection Applications to Vacate Vacation of refugee protection 109. (1) The Refugee Protection Division may, on application by the Minister, vacate a decision to allow a claim for refugee protection, if it finds that the decision was obtained as a result of directly or indirectly misrepresenting or withholding material facts relating to a relevant matter. Rejection of application (2) The Refugee Protection Division may reject the application if it is satisfied that other sufficient evidence was considered at the time of the first determination to justify refugee protection. Allowance of application (3) If the application is allowed, the claim of the person is deemed to be rejected and the decision that led to the conferral of refugee protection... Read more →

How to obtain your US immigration file

On a number of occasions, I've had to request my clients to obtain their US immigration file. This usually occurs when the client has lived in the US for a number of years and has made an asylum claim there. Under the exemptions to the Safe Third Country Agreement, some individuals can still make a claim at the Canada/US border - notwithstanding their sojourn and even failed asylum case. This site gives a good overview of the process. The form G-639 is here. Read more →

The Canadian Experience Class (CEC)

[August 13, 2008 Update - Globe and Mail article on the CEC] Here's some details regarding the long awaited CEC. The published regulations can be found here (Canada Gazette). Essentially, the CEC will be another arrow in the quiver to obtain permanent residency. The government has essentially acknowledged the failure of the Federal Skilled Worker Immigrant Class. It will assist recent foreign graduates and certain temporary foreign workers (low skill need not apply). Excerpt: ... The CEC will be limited to Skill Type 0 Management Occupations, Skill Level A (professional occupations), or Skill Level B (technical occupations and skilled trades) of the National Occupation Classifications (NOC). Lower-skilled occupations (NOC skill levels C and D) will not be eligible, as they are more vulnerable in economic downturns. Consequently, caution should be taken prior to increasing the pool of lower-skilled workers. All applicants must have come to Canada to work or study, have been lawfully admitted to Canada, and have temporary resident status in Canada at the time of application for the CEC. Foreign nationals who are already in the process of receiving their permanent resident status through other avenues do not qualify under the CEC. ... ... The proposed Regulations create... Read more →

Canada's Immigration Past...

This blog entry was originally posted on October 23, 2006. [Update: It seems that PM Harper has recently apologized for the incident in Surrey, BC - an apology that was apparently deemed inadequate by the attendees at the event. See also the article at the Canadian Press.] I found the above picture on the Canadawiki.org site on Komagata Maru. Gurdit Singh (I believe the one in white, near the top of the picture), organized the ill-fated voyage of the KM. The Vancouver Province labeled it the "Hindu Invasion of Canada" (the passengers were mostly Sikh, but I imagine this distinction was lost on the local populace). Here's a picture of the 'unimpressed' spectators at Harper's speech. After more than 2 months in dock, the KM was escorted at gunpoint to make the long trip back to Asia. The racism and differential treatment of the Punjabi's was apparent: The handling of the Komagata Maru affair proved embarrassing for the Laurier government. While accepting massive numbers of European immigrants - over 400,000 in 1913 alone - Canada had turned away only 376 Punjabis. The inequality of Canada's immigration system, demonstrated by the voyage of the Komagata Maru, took decades to be redressed. Read more →

Ottawa Citizen: "Time for an Immigration Time Out"

Margret Kopala greets the findings of two Canadian think tanks with "relief and some cause for celebration" in an article published in the Ottawa Citizen. The Fraser Institute and the Institute for Research on Public Policy address the thorny issue of immigration: No, Canada doesn't need to expand its internal markets, globalization has given it plenty elsewhere; no, immigrants are not net contributors to the economy, rather they are costing Canadian taxpayers billions while driving wages down in concomitant income categories, including the professions; no, immigration won't address the revenue vacuum created by an aging population, not unless it reaches stratospheric levels. Why not just raise the retirement age? And no, it is not up to governments to provide industry with endless supplies of cheap labour -- temporary or permanent -- when industry itself should be improving productivity and paying our own workers proper wages. It was temporary workers who caused the problems in Europe, remember? (In the U.S., I might add, it's 12 million illegal Mexican immigrants who have expanded an underclass costing billions in social and incarceration costs, who have become a large factor in the subprime mortgage crisis that's damaged American fiscal credibility.) So no, we don't... Read more →