Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Country Condition Resource for Somalian Refugee Cases

This Amnesty International Report from February 2014 deals primarily with forced returns of Somalis from Kenya. Good analysis of current risk and living conditions in Somalia, including the ineffectiveness of the Transitional Government, the human rights abuses committed by the Somali Army and AMISOM forces in addition to Al-Shabaab, and the problems faced by IDPs, including eviction from camps/areas of shelter. Notably, it is not included in the March 2014 National Documentation Package from the IRB. Read more →

Roma Refugee Claims from Hungary

Despite being vilified by the government for being "bogus claimants", Roma refugee claimants who have been fleeing racist violence in Hungary are seeing many of their claims for protection accepted. This is unsurprising given that the Federal Court has routinely found that the Hungarian authorities do not protect Roma from racist violence in their home country. A recent report from the Harvard School of Public Health indicates that racist violence against Roma in Hungary is accelerating. The report indicates that extreme right wing groups, including the Jobbik party, are consolidating political power in Hungary. Extremist groups are training paramilitaries to take action against Roma and other minorities in the country and hate crimes have become all too common. The experience of our office indicates that where Roma can evidence they have been a victim of physical violence on account of their ethnicity, the Refugee Board of Canada is willing to confer protection. Read more →

Jason Kenney on the 'bottom line' on immigration

Canada apparently needed transformational change in immigration. Kenney has delivered. Canada's system has moved from a passive and slow system to a much faster and proactive system. These changes are meant to decrease the low outcome scenario that many recent immigrants have been experiencing. Since the Conservatives have been in power, there's been a drop in the family class, but an increase to the economic immigrants (ditto for temporary foreign workers) along with a decrease in refugees. Read more →

Video Blog: Calgary Immigration Lawyers Raj Sharma and Bjorn Harsanyi Year End Immigration Discussion

Calgary Immigration Lawyers Bjorn Harsanyi and Raj Sharma have a year end (2013) discussion on developments in Immigration. The principals of Stewart Sharma Harsanyi discuss topics such as the dedicated funding committed to investigate cessate and vacate refugee/protected persons; marriage fraud investigations; 'Deporting Foreign Criminals Faster' Act; the removal of discretion from the immigration system and decision makers; and the citizenship backlog of over 300,000 individuals waiting patiently while a few dozen are being investigated for fraud. It's been a very interesting year. Every day you have to check the news to see 'what else has gone wrong'. Canada's changed from a welcoming nation for immigrants to one that is very selective of the immigrants that we do take and has lowered the bar to exclude individuals from the country. The denial of health coverage to refugee claimants (prior to the determination of that claim) was a moral failing for the country and a black eye to our reputation. Mean spirited and narrow minded, some of these decisions are driven by ideology. We're looking forward to continuing our advocacy for and on behalf of all of our clients. Transcript Raj Sharma: It's December 2013. It's been an eventful couple of... Read more →

Video Blog: Bjorn Harsanyi discusses the new refugee system

Bjorn Harsanyi, partner at Stewart Sharma Harsanyi, Calgary's leading immigration litigation firm, discusses the new refugee system. Bjorn Harsanyi and his partner, Raj Sharma, both experienced immigration lawyers have extensive experience in refugee hearings as both were former refugee hearings officers with the Immigration and Refugee Board. The lawyers at Stewart Sharma Harsanyi conduct (by far) the most number of immigration hearings, appeals and judicial review applications at the Federal Court of lawyers in Alberta. Read more →