Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

Blog Posting - Marriage Fraud - More Smoke and Mirrors?

Our office was previously retained to represent a client before the Federal Court in an application for mandamus. Mandamus is an order from a court compelling the government to take action pursuant to a legal obligation to an interested party. Our client was the victim of marriage fraud. He sponsored his spouse to come to Canada and upon arrival and after having obtained permanent residence, his spouse informed our client she had no intention of residing with him and promptly abandoned him. As a sponsor, our client had a three year sponsorship obligation in which time he would be liable for any social assistance obtained by his wife. After being informed by his wife, our client immediately informed the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and requested that their office investigate his wife for misrepresentation. Instead of investigating the matter, the CBSA took no action on the file for several years. We were subsequently retained to request the Federal Court order the CBSA to conduct an investigation. The Federal Court found merit in the application and granted leave for the case to be heard. Upon leave being granted the CBSA, instead of interviewing our client or his wife to look into... Read more →

The Basic Case Law for Immigration Practitioners

There are probably at least 5-10 cases in immigration law that are important. Like famous books and authors that people quote from, the actual decisions are likely infrequently read. Everyone that’s literate has heard of Moby Dick, War and Peace, Ulysses, Shakespeare’s plays of Hamlet, Othello among others and references to all of them abound in popular culture. Everyone knows the book or play, but few have actually read them. Such books have now formed intangible yet very real framework of reference in the Western tradition. The relevant touchstones in immigration law begin with Singh v. MEI 1 SCR 177 and which mandated hearings for all refugee claims made in Canada and a case which I must confess I myself have not read until today. Nonetheless, it is the bedrock upon which the Convention Refugee Determination Division (CRDD) and now re-christened Refugee Protection Division or RPD was created (and became a dumping ground, then and less so now, for patronage appointments - but that is a tale for another day). Singh is a decision that sticks in the craw for many individuals for extending Charter rights to non-citizens. Much has been written about this seminal decision and I can only... Read more →

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned...

The breakdown of a spousal relationship, or any long-term conjugal relationship for that matter, will often have devastating effects on the parties involved. One additional factor that adds to emotional turmoil is the immigration aspect of spousal relationships. Feeling used by someone you love, simply to gain immigration status, rubs salt on a usually freshly opened wound. Canadian law allows for a Canadian PR or citizen to sponsor (and grant PR) to their spouse, common-law partner or, in limited circumstances, conjugal partner. Once the sponsorship application is accepted, the sponsored spouse becomes a Canadian PR. To combat, and protect Canadians from, marriage fraud, the government has imposed a recent rule that anyone sponsored as a partner of a Canadian citizen or PR must reside with their sponsor for two years, or the sponsored individual will lose their PR. This rule will only apply to individuals that have received their PR from November, 2012, onwards (Regulation 72.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations). This rule is, of course, subject to exceptions. A sponsored individual is not required to stay with their sponsor if they have been abused or neglected (or if they're children of the relationship). As a new law,... Read more →

Blog Posting - Legal Aid Ontario Takes Step To Ensure Competency of Refugee Lawyers

The recent case of a Hungarian Roma family whose Legal Aid lawyer failed to prepare them for their refugee hearing appears to have spurred Legal Aid Ontario to undertake reforms to ensure the competency of counsel. http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2015/04/20/legal-aid-vows-to-weed-out-bad-refugee-lawyers.html This seems to be a noble effort, but the comments of Mr. Rehaag near the end of the article also bear contemplation. With Legal Aid cutbacks throughout the entire country is it realistic to expect all lawyers to exert maximum effort in their client's cases? Our firm endeavours to successfully resolve all of our clients cases, regardless of how we are retained, and as required by the Law Society of Alberta's Code of Conduct. In part that is because we have a roster of lawyers who have been trained and are experienced specifically in immigration law and are also of varying experience levels. The reality is that much of the Legal Aid asylum work is conducted by sole practitioners or those with mixed practices. Ensuring their commitment and competency will remain an ongoing challenge. Read more →

The Harper Decade on Immigration

Harper Decade by Raj Sharma We've put down our thoughts on the Harper Decade on immigration in words, and now in audio format. Read more →

Blog Posting - Changes to Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program for Entrepreneurs

We were recently retained on two files regarding applicants to the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) Entrepreneur Stream. As it happens it appears the timing for such applications is advantageous as the SINP has recently streamlined its process and rules under this category, essentially prioritizing high net worth individuals and those with entrepreneurial experience. This comes at a time when the BC PNP has imposed a moratorium on Entrepreneur applications and Alberta remains without such a class under their nominee program. Individuals who wish to immigrate may wish to look into the Saskatchewan program as a viable conduit to immigration to Western Canada as a result. The link to the relevant article is below: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/day-to-day/saskatchewan-streamlines-immigration-rules-for-entrepreneurs/article23590025/ Read more →

SCC to hear humanitarian and compassionate case tomorrow

Tomorrow the Supreme Court will be hearing an important case addressing the scope of humanitarian and compassionate consideration, Kanthasamy. The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and the Canadian Council for Refugees are interveners in the case, among others; they are arguing that the scope of H&C must be sufficiently broad to ensure that H&C assessments are a true alternate remedy in Canada’s immigration system. You can watch the hearing online tomorrow - starting at 9:30am (a recording will also be available afterwards): http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/case-dossier/info/webcast-webdiffusion-eng.aspx?cas=35990 You can find the factums of all the parties athttp://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/case-dossier/info/af-ma-eng.aspx?cas=35990 Read more →

Moratorium on Removals Lifted for Zimbabwean and Haitian Nationals

If you are a national of Zimbabwe or Haiti, the moratorium on removals to these countries has now been lifted and Canada has commenced deportations. In order to stay or delay deportation, and ensure that the humanitarian and compassionate factors in your case are assessed for permanent residence, you must file an application for permanent residence based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds before June 1, 2015. Like all applications under this category, there is no guarantee of success, but if you do not apply you could expect removal processes to commence shortly. Our Zimbabwean and Haitian clients, without status in Canada, have been receiving notification letters of the above. The full change in policy is linked below: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2015/ob600.asp Read more →

The Harper Government Record on Immigration - Part V

The Harper Government (or the "HG") is nearing an important anniversary. It's been almost ten years since it has been entrusted by Canadians to govern. This past decade has been a watershed in terms of immigration law and policy. It's been quite the odyssey for lawyers, prospective immigrants, and stakeholders in keeping up. It's difficult to encapsulate the changes, but here's our final attempt: Finally, the emphasis by the HG on the bottom line seeped into the family class. Numbers were crunched even when it came to filial obligations and affections. Kenney suspended the family class (parents and grandparents) at the end of 2011 for two years, noting that older immigrants cost the system hundreds of thousands of dollars in health care costs. The program is now limited to the first 5000 applicants with increased income requirements for the sponsor in Canada. Family reunification is now for the affluent and well established. Arguably, many of the HG changes to immigration law and policy have been mean spirited and short sighted. That being said, it is up to Canadians to determine whether that policy view should be extended or not. Read more →

Blog Posting - Express Entry (Early Returns)

As the linked Globe and Mail piece shows, the early returns from the rollout of the ballyhooed Express Entry system are underwhelming to say the least: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ottawas-new-express-entry-immigration-system-slow-off-the-mark/article23801745/ While the government will likely claim immigration targets are being met as a result of clearing a backlog from the old system, it is readily apparent that the Express System weighted lottery is not selecting enough immigrants for permanent residence. One possible solution would be for the government to work in conjunction with the provinces to increase quotas under provincial nominee programs. Provinces could then tailor their programs (and perhaps have less stringent requirements than Express Entry) to the types of immigrants they believe will economically establish in their specific labour markets. It remains to be seen whether the respective governments can make this happen. Given the acrimony between the Federal government and the provinces, I wouldn't hold my breath. Read more →

The Harper Government Record on Immigration - Part IV

The Harper Government is nearing an important anniversary. It's been almost ten years since it has been entrusted by Canadians to govern. This past decade has been a watershed in terms of immigration law and policy. It's difficult to encapsulate the changes, but here's our (fourth) attempt: Keeping in line with this government's pro-business outlook (businesses of course want a stable, compliant work force) the temporary foreign worker program was dramatically expanded. At the same time, no thought or consideration was spared for the tens of thousands of "low skill" foreign workers for whom there is no pathway for permanent residence (in fairness, no pathway was afforded by the previous government either). Low skill temporary foreign workers remain the coolie, bonded labour, with no hope to remain permanently and with explicit limits on their stay here of a maximum 4 years. I've discussed the plight of temporary foreign workers here and here. Read more →

April truly is the cruellest month with thousands to leave Canada

I wrote an op-ed published last week in the Calgary Herald drawing parallels between the coolies of the early 19th century and temporary foreign workers of today. I did not anticipate the reaction that it occasioned. [Note to reader: never read on-line comments if you want to preserve your faith in humanity]. I was actually inspired to write the opinion piece because of the perfect storm that is threatening one of my clients, Rohit Nand. Rohit and I were on the Dave Taylor show yesterday to discuss the loss of his dream to build a better life for his family in this country. Rohit is an Indo-Fijian; his ancestors were brought to Fiji as contract labourers (then referred to as "coolies"). Rohit himself then came to Canada as a contract labourer but rose to a skilled position within his organization. But for the unexpected and exponential increase in the AINP processing times, he and his family would be well on their way to permanent residency. But for one-half point shortfall on his language test, he would have been eligible under the then extant Canadian Experience Class. ...this distinction between labourers and professionals is an unwarranted one. Canada was not built... Read more →