Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Calgary Immigration Law Firm Blog

Defending or Prosecuting Marriage Fraud

Calgary Immigration lawyer Raj Sharma canvasses the types of marriage fraud, and the procedure once marriage fraud is suspected, from investigation, the writing of a "section 44" report, a hearing before the Immigration Division and the possibility of an appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division. Read more →

Our Initial Experience with the New Refugee Claim Determination Process

Calgary Immigration lawyer Raj Sharma canvasses the new refugee determination procedure. Read more →

Canada Welcomed Record Number of International Students in 2012

Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma comments on the record number of international students that Canada welcomed in 2012. Increasing the number of international students and providing a clear pathway for them to become permanent residents is an absolute "no-brainer". Read more →

Our Summary and Thoughts on Jason Kenney's Removing 'Foreign' Criminals Faster Act

Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma reviews Jason Kenney's new and atrociously entitled Removing Foreign Criminals Faster Act. Hard cases make bad law. Basing a law on outlier cases and eliminating discretion is wrong. Read more →

No Surprise - Mexico added to Designated Country list

Look for a lifting of the visa requirement for Mexican nationals... From the CIC website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2013/2013-02-14.asp ... "The Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, announced today that the list of Designated Countries of Origin is expanding to include an additional eight countries. As part of the improvements to Canada’s new asylum system that came into effect on December 15, 2012, the Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act included the authority to designate countries of origin—democratic countries that offer state protection, have active human rights and civil society organizations, and do not normally produce refugees. “Faster processing of asylum claims from generally safe countries is an essential feature of Canada’s new faster and fairer refugee system,” said Minister Kenney. “Our new system provides protection more quickly to genuine refugees, while removing individuals whose claims are rejected from the country faster.” The second list of designated countries includes: Mexico Israel (which excludes Gaza and the West Bank) Japan Norway Iceland New Zealand Australia Switzerland Including the designation of these eight countries, effective February 15, 2013, 35 countries appear on the designated countries list, which already includes most countries in the European Union (EU), Croatia and the United States. Under the new... Read more →

What happens when you mix Incompetent counsel and Deportation

Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma writes on what happens when you mix incompetent legal advice with deportation. Read more →

Judicial Review of an "Unintelligible" RPD decision

Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma writes on an "unintelligible" decision by the Refugee Protection Division. The RPD found that a Zikri (a religious minority from Pakistan) who was the subject of an arrest warrant and a blasphemy charge, was not at risk upon return to that failed state. The Federal Court overturned the decision and remitted it to another decision maker. Read more →

Judicial Review of Residency Appeal

Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma writes on appearing before the Federal Court. Judicial review was sought against a decision by the Immigration Appeal Division. The IAD refused the residency obligation appeal on the basis that the client had other options to come to Canada when no such evidence was before her. The Federal Court set aside the decision. Read more →

Required Reading for Administrative Law Lawyers: Roncarelli and 'untrammelled' discretion

Rand J. stated, In public regulation of this sort there is no such thing as absolute and untrammelled "discretion", that is that action can be taken on any ground or for any reason that can be suggested to the mind of the administrator; no legislative Act can, without express language, be taken to contemplate an unlimited arbitrary power, exercisable for any purpose, however capricious or irrelevant, regardless of the nature or purposes of the statute... "Discretion" necessarily implies good faith in discharging public duty; there is always a perspective within which a statute is intended to operate; and any clear departure from its lines or objects is just as objectionable as fraud or corruption. Could an applicant be refused a permit because he had been born in another province, or because of the colour of his hair? The ordinary language of the legislature cannot be so distorted." Read more →

What Should an Immigration Officer Consider in a Spousal Sponsorship Interview?

Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma writes on the factors to consider in an in-Canada spousal sponsorship. Read more →

Record number of visitor visas issued from Chandigarh visa office in 2012

News Release — Canada Issues Record Number of Visitor Visas from Chandigarh Number of visitor visas issued from Chandigarh mission has tripled since 2005 Amritsar, India – January 11, 2013 — Canada’s Chandigarh office has issued a record number of visitor visas in 2012, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today. In 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) officials issued a record number of visitor visas in India’s Punjab region – approximately 17,608, almost three times more than were issued in 2005. As well, approximately 80% of visitor cases processed at missions in India in this year were finalized in five days or less, a major improvement over the 12-day processing time over the same period last year. Read more →

Are Some Immigration Officers Biased?

Calgary Immigration lawyer Raj Sharma raises concerns with the Alternative Dispute Resolution process for immigration appeals. The identity of the particular CBSA hearings and appeals officer seems to have an inordinate influence on the outcome of the ADR. Read more →

Why I Practice Immigration Law: Helping Refugees

Calgary immigration lawyer Ram Sankaran writes on his motivations - why he practices immigration and refugee law. Read more →

This is Why I Practice Immigration Law - Providing a Practical Solution to My Client's Dilemma

Calgary Immigration Lawyer Suha Abu-Jazar writes on why she practices immigration law. Read more →

This is Why I Practice Immigration Law - Marriage Fraud Hearing

Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma writes about representing an individual (falsely) accused of committing marriage fraud and obtaining a successful resolution for his client. Read more →

2012 Year End: Citizenship and Immigration Canada Wrap Up

The end of 2012 is upon us. It was clear even last year that there was to be a sea change brought on by the indefatiguable Jason Kenney to his Department. I think Kenney has accomplished what he set out to do; anything more is likely fine tuning or calibration. What is the sea change in immigration? 1. Canada no longer passively accepts immigrants. For decades, Canada was passive in immigration policy. Sure, there were general factors -- a minimum bar -- for applicants in the Federal Skilled Worker Class (age, education, work experience, language proficiency, adaptability) and we sat back and observed how these new 'stem cells' would do in Canada, (hopefully successfully) adapting themselves to the needs of our economy. From a processing point of view, it was a nightmare. There were no limits as to the number of applications accepted, and hundreds of thousands languished in visa offices all over the globe. No one saw this coming. Kenney made the "startling suggestion" that the backlog could simply be eliminated at the beginning of March. It was all over by the summer. Kenney made short work of those individuals that had patiently waited their turn at the Canadian... Read more →

New CIC Operational Bulletins dealing with PRRA and Work Permits for DCO refugee claimants

Operational Bulletin 440-H - December 17, 2012: Changes to the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment Program under the new legislation http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2012/ob440H.asp Operational Bulletin 484 - December 18, 2012: Processing work permits for Designated Country of Origin refugee claimants http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2012/ob484.asp Read more →

Email from Dan Donovan Publisher & Managing Editor of Ottawa Life

Dan Donovan sent me this email a couple of months ago in response to my blog article on Lainie Towell. Mr. Donovan is Facebook friends with Ms. Towell and seems to have taken affront to my comments. He left a voice mail today as well requesting that I get back to him by Friday. Somehow I get the impression that his upcoming article (purportedly on immigration) will be less than glowing about this writer or this office. As an aside, Mr. Donovan has atrocious writing for someone that purports to be an editor. He also doesn't seem to have a clue as to when and how "quotation marks" are to be used. P.S. Mr. Donovan. I refer to myself as a "lawyer" because I happen to be a member of the Law Society of Alberta. P.P.S I look forward to reading your screed. Govern yourself accordingly. Raj Sharma J.D. LL.M ************************************************************************ From: Dan Donovan [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 02:14 PM To: Raj Sharma Subject: query from OTTAWA LIFE MAGAZINE re Lainie Towell Case and your comments Mr. Sharma I note you refer to yourself as a lawyer and immigration expert. I read your comment on a blog on... Read more →

Immigration Officers have immense discretionary powers

An immigration officer has significant discretionary power. For example, an officer can allow a foreign national entry to Canada notwithstanding criminal inadmissibility (a "TRP"); an officer can exempt a foreign national from almost any requirement under the Act (a "H&C"); an officer can accept a FSW applicant even if the applicant has insufficient "points" (substituted evaluation); an officer can overlook breach of the residency obligation imposed on Permanent Residents; and an officer can decide not to "write up" or proceed with enforcement action (even if the PR or foreign national is inadmissible on criminality or misrepresentation). Knowing when such discretion is possible/likely and what factors are appropriate considerations for such discretion is the hallmark of an experienced immigration lawyer. Read more →

Sample (short) H&C submissions

Here are some quick submissions I made on behalf of a client who was facing imminent removal but had an outstanding application under humanitarian and compassionate application for a number of years. I'm happy to say that the application was granted and the client received first stage approval after these submissions were made. Dear Responsible Officer We are counsel for Mr. ________________, a national of ________. A signed Use of Representative form is attached. It is our understanding that our client made a refugee claim in Canada in 2001. That claim was denied; Mr. _________ then applied for permanent residency as he married a Canadian national. Mr. ___________ and his wife had a daughter, __________, born in January 2003. The spousal sponsorship was apparently cancelled by his spouse; however, it is our understanding that Mr. _____________ application for permanent residency would then be considered on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. The couple have separated but are not yet divorced; they appear to be effective co-parents of their daughter. We would submit that the outstanding application is meritorious. Mr. _____________ is employed at _____________ Limited with their manufacturing team (letter of employment attached). He makes over $_____________ a year. Child support is... Read more →