Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

The Removal Order and the Deferral Request...

"If the Canada Border Services Agency is interpreting section 48 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act which now requires removal "as soon as possible" rather than "as soon as practical", so that the only way the removal can be stopped is by court order, then so be it! What happened to common sense?" Begum v. Canada (MCI) [2013] FCJ No. 658 para 16. The Deferral Request There will come a time when your client has exhausted all avenues in obtaining status and putting off the enforcement of a removal order. There are various statutory, regulatory and potential administrative stays against enforcement of a removal order. One day, your client will be called in to meet with an enforcement/removals officer. They should be cautioned; if they give the officer the impression that they will not comply with removal they will be detained. I wrote about detention and the stay of removal a long time ago. Here, I will mainly discuss making a deferral request to that removals officer. The deferral request should only be made in certain circumstances; officers have limited discretion in granting such requests --it is, after all, their job to carry out enforcement. When an applicant is... Read more →

August 17, 2022 Interview on RedFM discussing immigration fraud and issues facing international students

Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Lawyers · 2022 08 17 Redfm Interview on Immigration Fraud and International Students It's been awhile since I've been interviewed on RedFM -Rishi Nagar and I discussed the conviction and sentencing of Roger Bhatti, once one of the busiest refugee lawyers in the Western Region, immigration fraud generally, and issues facing international students. Given the forum, the interview is largely in Punjabi. Read more →

Lock in Date for Dependent Children and Humanitarian Relief

I really thought I had a chance of success in challenging the refusal to grant H&C relief to two young women that aged out from their father's application for permanent residence. Justice Phelan's decision can be read here. It was a disappointing result for a deserving family. I had sought H&C relief because the girls were dependent children when their father first came here to work (in 2008) and they met the definition when he first sought permanent residence (first submitted in 2010). There was delay however -their father needed to meet the provincial criteria (the application was initially refused because he didn't have a Grade 12 certificate --something his then representative should have alerted him to prior to submission). The definition of dependent child then changed thanks to the Harper/Kenney government (to 19 in the year 2014). The definition then changed again (to a hard 22 in the year 2017). Their father finally met the criteria for nomination on the third attempt and submitted a PR application for him and his family but by this time the girls had aged out -both were over 22 by the time the PR application went in, one missing the cut off by... Read more →

Extending a Post Graduate Work Permit...

IRCCC has (finally) provided some details as to the process by which PGWP holders can extend their status. Take a careful read of the announcement on the IRCC website here. Some individuals don't need to do anything; a new work permit will be sent to their mailing address. Others, however, will need to apply and restore status (even if they are beyond the typical 90 day window). Open work permits for individuals with expired or expiring post-graduation work permits Foreign nationals whose post-graduation work permit expired or will expire from September 20, 2021, to December 31, 2022, will have the opportunity to work in Canada for an additional 18 months by either extending their work permit or applying for a new one. Those currently in Canada will also have the ability to work in the interim period while their permit is being extended or a new one is being issued. These measures will affect individual applicants in different ways. My post-graduation work permit expires from October 2, 2022, to December 31, 2022, my address is up to date, and my passport is valid through April 2024. You don’t need to do anything. When you receive an email from IRCC to... Read more →