Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to post my best wishes to my readers and of course thank all of my clients for allowing me the opportunity to assist them this past year. The work this year included: removal order appeals based on criminal inadmissibility and misrepresentation, submitted PRRAs, NAFTA TN applications, refugee hearings, family sponsorships, spousal appeals, work permits, emergency stay application before the federal court and both overseas and inland humanitarian and compasionate applications. I've been with clients that have been interviewed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS); and attending at detention reviews to secure the release of my client in immigration custody. Surprisingly I also attended before a criminal court for a bail hearing for an unfortunate charged criminally under IRPA. A number of TRP applications were done to allow clients who were otherwise inadmissible to Canada to enter and either transit through here or remain here. Quite a few applications for leave and judicial review were filed late this year. I've just received leave from the court for a refugee refusal involving article 1fa - war crimes. The hearing will be in March and I am looking forward to appearing before that court. One application I am working on... Read more →

Detention Review

Preventive detention should be exceptional means of restraint in a society such as ours. In certain circumstances, foreign nationals can be placed in preventive detention if there are grounds to be believe that they are a danger to the public, or unlikely to appear for a further examination. Individuals held in immigration detention are usually placed in the Calgary Remand Center. I was at Harry Hays earlier today to secure the release of my client, who was the subject of a valid removal order. In his case, removal could not have been effected in the foreseeable future, and alternatives to detention existed (such as the posting of a cash bond, and weekly reporting conditions). The release was secured with some difficulty however. This has not been my typical experience, and anecdotal information suggests that the enforcement activity of the CBSA has increased in recent weeks. The anecdotal information included one Immigration Division Member commenting that these last 2 weeks have been the busiest in his 25 plus career. Detention reviews are interesting affairs, and take place with minimum notice and the Calgary practice entails the CBSA Hearings officer reading in 'evidence'. There are no rules of evidence as understood by... Read more →

Appeals from a refused spousal sponsorship

When a spousal sponsorship (overseas) is refused, it is generally on the basis that the relationship is not genuine or was entered into primarily for the purposes of immigration to Canada (otherwise known as a "marriage of convenience"). The statutory language is contained at s.4 of the IRPR Regulations: 4. For the purposes of these Regulations, a foreign national shall not be considered a spouse, a common-law partner, a conjugal partner or an adopted child of a person if the marriage, common-law partnership, conjugal partnership or adoption is not genuine and was entered into primarily for the purpose of acquiring any status or privilege under the Act. The sponsor is provided a refusal letter along with a notice of appeal. After completing this notice and attaching the refusal letter, the sponsor is to file the notice of appeal with the appropriate registry office of the Immigration Appeal Division. After 120 days of the filing of the notice of appeal, the sponsor is provided with the appeal 'record' which contains all documents before the visa officer (including the sponsorship application, and the CAIPS notes and decision of the officer). Unfortunately, an appeal can take as long as a year to be... Read more →

Troubled times for immigrants

As I've said many times in the past, immigrating to another country is not easy. As the son of immigrants, I saw it first hand. There were more struggles before my birth, and my parents provide me with great perspective and insight into the lives of new immigrants. This Toronto Star article discusses the difficulties for an immigrant family. Both primary wage earners lost their jobs. Both are struggling to adjust. Excerpt: When layoffs scatter workers, as they have with mounting frequency, immigrants are left facing the same problems as their Canadian-born counterparts. But they have additional hurdles, too. Before they can train for new careers many must improve their English. Another complication: Immigrants often find work through community or family relations, which means a husband and a wife, a cousin and an uncle may all become unemployed in one devastating swoop. For many of these families, it is a time of unforgiving firsts. First employment insurance cheques, first resumés and interviews, the first time filling out government funding forms. The first time forced – thrown, really – into a job market dominated by service-sector work. For generations, immigrants could find jobs that required few skills, yet gave them a... Read more →