Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

The Exploitation of Temporary Foreign Workers -Interview on CBC Edmonton March 8, 2019

Tara McCarthy: A foreign worker from Edmonton is now in hiding. She says the owner of an Edmonton restaurant that sponsored her work visa tried to extort her for sex. If she didn't comply, he threatened to withdraw her immigration application. The woman who can't be named, due to a publication ban, was sponsored under the Alberta immigrant nominee program. Raj Sharma is the managing partner of Stewart Sharma Harsanyi. He specializes in immigration law and joins me now from our Calgary Studio. Good morning. Raj Sharma: Good morning. Tara McCarthy: How common is it that foreign workers get exploited like this? Raj Sharma: Unfortunately, Tara, it happens all too often. And the exploitation and the ill treatment of temporary foreign workers is nothing new. It goes back to the days of coolie labor. It goes back to the days of the Chinese laborers on the Canadian Pacific Railway. Tara McCarthy: Why is it so common? Raj Sharma: It's common because there's various power dynamics, power imbalances at play. It happens because we have individuals that are coming here from third world countries. And there's various sort of actors, bad actors unfortunately. There's recruiters, for example. There's individuals in every... Read more →

Dealing with Dated and Dismissed Criminal Charges

Summary: The author and his firm are handling a number of cases concerning dismissed criminal charges in the Philippines (Manila Visa Office). The applicants have provided court documents and statements showing that the charges have been dismissed but the visa officers are still asking for more evidence. Some refusals are based on the requirement to provide relevant evidence and some based on the finding of inadmissibility under s.36(2)(c) despite the court documents. Some visa officers may not believe the applicant or court documents and the refusals may be based on credibility issues. The starting point is whether the applicant committed the acts in question and a dismissal of charges should be evidence of no commission. The visa officers may be asking for unreasonable levels of documentation; redress may be found at the IAD or the Federal Court depending on the facts. We are handling a number of cases all concerning dated and dismissed criminal charges. All of these refusals are from the Philippines (Manila Visa Office). In these cases, the applicants have provided court documents that the charges have been dismissed. Most of these incidents occurred decades ago. After the Procedural Fairness Letter, the applicants try and obtain documents pertaining... Read more →

Albertaprime Time Interview on Jason Kenney and the #UCP Immigration Plan for Alberta March 1, 2019

Michael Higgins: An immigration plan to help reverse shrinking populations in rural Alberta. Jason Kenney's Alberta Advantage Immigration Strategy would speed up processing and end large backlogs with an aim of bringing 10,000 newcomers to rural Alberta communities, giving priority to committed entrepreneurs ... Jason Kenney: ... who take big risks to turn a dream into reality, which creates jobs and produces prosperity for all of us. Michael Higgins: To get some perspective on what the UCP plan might involve and its degree of potential, we're joined now by Raj Sharma, an immigration lawyer in Calgary. Michael Higgins: Mr. Sharma, before we get to the UCP proposal, many of us understand immigration to be a federal responsibility, so to what degree do the provinces factor into the equation? Raj Sharma: Thanks, Michael. Immigration is a federal legislation, but the responsibility is a bit shared between the federal government and the provinces. Raj Sharma: I'll leave Quebec aside; Quebec has its own sort of deal in immigration just like they have their own deal on other matters. Other provinces have been sort of clamoring for more say in terms of immigration, and so each province has their own provincial nominee program,... Read more →