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Success: Study Permit (9 days)

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We love to help international students in Canada. We do not agree with many politicians who blame our “housing crisis” on international students. We also do not agree with politicians who are cutting programs for these students. Universities in Canada have been growing and building their campuses with the help of the high tuition paid by these students.

Currently, international students who make mistakes are at a high risk of being ordered to leave Canada. SP-EXT refusals are increasingly common. PGWP refusals are increasing. IRCC Officers are becoming strict to follow the rules and policies. The older procedures from 2021 and 2022 when it was relatively “easy” to get Work Permits and Study Permits are in the distant past.

Unfortunately, many students arrived in Canada in 2020/ 2021/ 2022 based on those old policies and promises. They were told they could take a 1 year study program, get a 1 year open work permit and then get PR status. We have been warning against this path since 2016. It is very risky; however, despite the risk, many students have no other choice.

Recently, a student came to us with a dire situation. His Study Permit expired. He made a critical mistake with his PGWP and the application was refused. His 90 Restoration period was over. He was given an order to leave Canada “immidiately”.

During our consultation, we reviewed his legal options. In this situation, under 2024 policies, he could not apply for another Study Permit from inside Canada. Thankfully, he had a Visa to the USA and he had a friend who was willing to help.


We prepared the SP application and he travelled to the USA.Here is a brief timeline of Afnan’s SP outside Canada application:

  • NOV 2024             Client retained us. Prepared supplementary document checklist, collected and reviewed documents;
  • DEC 2024              Reviewed full package, submitted OWP application;
  • DEC 2024              SP Approved in 9 days.

Given the multiple refusals and previous immigration history, we were actually quite surprised by this incredibly fast processing time. I would like to think that when an Officer sees CIL on the package, they know it’s a good package and our client is a genuine student.

Our client paid the price for his mistakes. His family spent $$$ to travel to the USA and go through this process. He was extremely worried that he was going to miss a semester of university. Thankfully, we got an amazing result.

Reflecting on 2023

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Once again, we celebrate all the work from 2023 and reflect on how the world may change in the year to come. At CIL, we are incredibly thankful and blessed for so many successes and positive decisions. We love helping our clients and we recognize they have put their lives in our hands. We take our work very seriously as we know the importance of each and every file. Before we get to the predictions for 2024, here are a few milestones from 2023:

 

 

 

 

We bid farewell to 2023. Again, thank you to all our clients who put their trust in our services!

Success: IAD ADR

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Another victory at the Immigration Appeal Division! We love winning. In this case, our client’s application (Spousal Sponsorship) was refused and they had been separated for a long time. They made the mistake of doing the Spousal Sponsorship application by themselves, without any professional help. The IRCC website let them know, of course, that they did not need to hire a professional for the application and they followed the guidance from the IRCC website. Alas, they tried their best but it was refused.

After the refusal, they came to CIL for help with the appeal. If you have read past posts on our website, we have won many appeals to the IAD. In fact, Alastair Clarke has won 100% of his appeals at the IAD. His first IAD appeal, back in 2007, was a case when he was an articling student. He articled at a large immigration law firm on Bay Street in Toronto and the lawyer on the case did not want to lose. It was a very difficult case where the Sponsor was convicted of murdering his sister-in-law. Based on the law at that time (the law was actually changed as a result of this appeal), a Sponsor was not eligible to sponsor if he had been convicted of a violent offence against a “family member”. Alastair Clarke successfully argued that a “sister-in-law” is not a “family member”, according to the definition in IRPA – she is a “relative”. He won the appeal.

In this case, our clients’ issues were not so serious. In fact, we worked with our clients, built a strong package of documentary evidence and contacted the tribunal. We also reached out to Minister’s Counsel regarding this situation. We have published previous articles on how to win at the IAD This post is from 2016; however, many of the suggestions in that article still apply in 2023. 

The main point: PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE.

IAD appeals require a lot of work. Do not hire a lawyer who will not take the time to properly prepare the Sponsor, the Applicant, the witnesses and to prepare a substantive package of documentary evidence. All these steps are key to winning and too many lawyers try to take “short cuts”. Those “short cuts” can lead to refusals.

IAD ADR

Based on the strong evidence, we won this case through the IAD ADR process. This Alternative Dispute Resolution process is only available to appeals that have strong documentary evidence. It is extremely limited and it is not available in most appeals.

For our clients, we won at the IAD ADR. We satisfied the parties that all the reasons for the refusal had been satisfied.

Our clients will be reunited in Canada.

Time to Celebrate!

Success: Warning Letter

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Everyone makes mistakes. In some cases, we deal with situations where our client has made a serious mistake or many mistakes. In other cases, our client has made a minor mistake. In these types of situations, depending on the mistake and the consequences, it may go to an IRCC Officer or a CBSA Officer to review. These Officers have broad discretionary powers to take various types of action against the individual. In some cases, the entire family may be punished. In other cases, the individual may simply get a warning.

Today, we will share a case that involved a mistake by our client that occurred many years ago. She used a shady agent to apply for a Study Permit to Canada based on fraudulent financial documents. The shady agent did not tell her that he added these fraudulent documents to her application. She had no idea. She never got a copy of the package. She didn’t ask questions. She trusted the agent. And she got her Study Permit.

Based on the work of the shady agent, our client got the Study Permit and came to Canada. She finished her studies and she got her PGWP. She was successful with her studies and her career. She got married and had children. She was granted PR status. Everything was going smoothly and, even after many years, she had no idea that the actions of that shady agent may come back to bite.

CBSA caught the shady agent and reviewed all his past applications – going back years. They launched an investigation into many applications and contacted our client regarding her past Study Permit. During an interview with a CBSA Officer in July 2023, our client was served with an A44 Report based on allegations of misrepresentation. The Officer explained Section 40(1)(a) (Misrepretation) of IRPA:

Misrepresentation

40 (1) A permanent resident or a foreign national is inadmissible for misrepresentation

    • (a) for directly or indirectly misrepresenting or withholding material facts relating to a relevant matter that induces or could induce an error in the administration of this Act;

As you can read from the above, Section 40(1)(a) (Misrepretation) of IRPA is extremely broad and it may include any mistakes made by a shady agent. The potential punishment for a person who has violated A40 of IRPA:

(2) The following provisions govern subsection (1):

  • (a) the permanent resident or the foreign national continues to be inadmissible for misrepresentation for a period of five years following, in the case of a determination outside Canada, a final determination of inadmissibility under subsection (1) or, in the case of a determination in Canada, the date the removal order is enforced

This means that our client was at risk of losing her PR status, being removed from Canada, being banned from Canada for 5 years and being separated from her family in Winnipeg. Very serious consequences.

She immediately came to CIL for help. Over a 3 month period, we were in contact with the CBSA Officer. We reviewed her documents. We researched the shady agent. We prepared her defence, with reference to relevant caselaw from Federal Court.

In the end, our client got a “warning letter”. You can see a redacted version of this document. This was the best possible result. Our client’s PR status is no longer at risk. She clearly regrets using a shady agent to do her Study Permit. She now knows that was a big mistake. The Officer accepted her explanation and he accepted that her regret is genuine. The agent has been punished.

I wish I could tell you that these cases are rare. They are not. I cannot even count the number of A44 Reports that we have dealt with over the years. Individuals may get a A44 Report for any of the IRPA sections for inadmissibility. Typically, we look at sections 33 through 43 of IRPA in these types of cases. The most common sections that we deal with are misrepresentation (A40), medical inadmissibility (A38), and criminal inadmissibility (A36). 

In every case, we want to give our client the best chance at a warning letter. If the Officer is not satisfied, then the case is referred to the tribunal for an Admissibility Hearing. They can then give testimony and call witnesses. This can take a lot of work and it can be costly – both in terms of money and stress. In certain cases, the individual may appeal to the IAD for an appeal. Finally, if the IAD is not available for an appeal, we may have to go to Federal Court to fight for our clients. 

CIL has handled all the situations noted above, many times. If you are dealing with this type of situation, give us a call and we will do our best to guide you through the process. 

Success: PR APPROVED

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Based on the recent poll, I know that readers want more information about how we get positive results. We have been posting success stories since 2015. We do our best to provide detailed accounts of how to handle, process and submit applications to get the best results. Over many years, we have developed various systems that we use to help our clients. We know that other law firms are not doing these things because we hire staff who have worked at other law firms and they describe the work at those firms. Every team member at CIL has to go through training at the beginning of their position to learn our systems and raise the quality of their work. We know we have high standards and high expectations. We are extremely critical of our own work product. We want to give our clients the absolute best chance at success.

For today’s post, I have to pick which approval to highlight. Over the past few days, we have had Work Permits approved, IAD appeals approved, RPD claims approved and multiple SCLPC Class applications approved. We do not have the time to give summaries of all our approvals. We try to choose the ones with the most helpful case summary for readers.

MPNP PR APPROVED

I want to highlight a file that was approved on Nov 10th. This is a family who applied through the MPNP program. We get many clients who struggle with the MPNP program, including the MPNP BIS stream. Officers can scrutinize the documents and cause frustration and stress.

In this case, our clients retained a representative who lied to them about their application. The representative dropped the ball. They trusted this person to handle their immigration matters and they were let down. They missed the deadline and they were at risk of being deported from Canada.

Clients may spend $$$$ to come to Manitoba to study. They work hard. They try to find the best job in a tough market. They may get a job that is beneath their skill set, and yet they continue to work and contribute to the Canadian economy.

Many of our clients have sacrificed so much so they have a better future.

For this family, we needed to convince the Officer that the applicants were victims of the representative’s incompetence. We did that. The Officer could see from the emails that the representative did not properly handle the case. The applicants did everything in their power to get a good result – except make the decision to hire a good representative.

Our clients deeply regret hiring a bad representative. Thankfully, they came to CIL at a point in the process that we could fix the mess.

How can you avoid being a victim?

Obviously, the clear solution is to book a consultation so we can help; however, the team at CIL cannot help everyone. We know that we have limitations and we have to limit the number of clients to ensure high quality of service. We also have to be aware of burnout and compassion fatigue. This is a common issue among representatives who truly care about their clients.

Here is a list of recommendations:

  1. Avoid representatives who give guarantees and/or promises. The representative is not the decision maker. They cannot guarantee a positive result. If your situation is so clear that, you believe, you have a 100% chance of success, do it yourself!
  2. Demand copies of all documents sent to IRCC/ CBSA/ IRB on your behalf. Those documents have your personal information and they may have a direct impact on your future.
  3. Trust your gut. If a representative (lawyer or consultant) avoids questions and you do not get a good feeling, run away.
  4. Don’t cheap out. Prices are important. Of course. Fees can be high. In my experience, fees are not correlated with quality. There are crappy representatives who charge very high fees. There are good representatives who charge reasonable rates. Be informed.

In 2016, we published 12 Tips for Choosing an Immigration Lawyer. This may be a useful guide. We also have Referral Partners on our site with links to other immigration lawyers in Canada who are very good.

Success: Spousal Open Work Permit

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Our client came to us with a messy situation. He hired a shady Consultant who messed up his case. The Consultant sent documents to immigration without telling our client. The Consultant did not give him copies of the documents so our client has, to this day, no idea what information the Consultant gave to IRCC. This is, of course, terrible practice and we recommended that our client file a complaint against the Consultant.

Our client is in Dubai, UAE. As you may know, the laws in UAE are not strong in this type of situation and there is little that our client could do against the Consultant. Our client was afraid to go to the police. He is not a citizen of UAE. He only has worker status.

We agreed to do our best to help our client and he let him know that he had a very difficult case. We got a copy of his immigration file and we learned that the Consultant actually filed multiple applications on his behalf. He had no idea. He had multiple IRCC refusals on his file. He had no idea. The Consultant seriously messed up his situation.

We worked with this client for a few months to get his immigration file, gather data and make sure we put together strong supporting documentation.

As you can see from the image, our client’s application was APPROVED. He was, of course, ecstatic and overjoyed that he was granted worker status in Canada.

We love positive decisions and we love to celebrate. I can tell you that there is laughter at CIL almost every day. We stop deportations. We win appeals. We help our clients get PR status – quickly. We win judicial reviews at Federal Court. We are extremely fortunate that we have many things to celebrate.

When we told our client, he said he was not surprised by the approval. He said:

I know I had a tough case but you guys worked so hard for me. I knew we would win.

Our philosophy: hope for the best and plan for the worst. We never expect to get easy approvals. We never expect that we will not have to work hard on behalf of every client. Thankfully, the methods and systems at CIL have proven to be a model for successful results!

If you have an immigration problem and need to hire the best, contact our office.

Success: Deportation Order Cancelled

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Canadian immigration laws are tough on criminals. A person who has been convicted of a criminal offence may face serious issues on the criminal side. In fact, CIL has an entire side of our practice for “crimmigration” – this is the area that covers criminal law and immigration law. The overlap is significant so that lawyers need to understand many aspects of both areas of practice to give their clients good legal advice.

Our client is a “long term” Permanent Resident of Canada and a citizen of Portugal. This means that he has spent significant time in Canada after he emigrated from Portugal. He has strong family connections to Winnipeg and he has built his life on this side of the Atlantic. He loves Winnipeg and we put together a strong package of more than 100 pages of documents on his behalf that covered the relevant legal tests.

Our client also has a history of addiction. Addiction has been recognized as a condition that may be considered a “disability” in Canada. According to the Canadian Human Rights Commission:

In Canada, people use different terms to describe struggles with alcohol or drugs. The terms substance dependence, addiction, or substance use disorder are often used interchangeably. The Canadian Human Rights Commission (Commission) uses the term “substance dependence” to refer to previous or existing addiction or dependence on alcohol or drugs. Substance dependence is considered a disability under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

For our client, his addiction led to criminal activities and he faced multiple convictions. He was facing deportation from Canada and CBSA was taking steps to separate him from his family and friends in Manitoba.

Our client contacted CIL after he was convicted and sentenced. He served his time in prison. He already paid a heavy price for his mistakes. He came to us for help so that he would not be deported back to Portugal.

After much work and negotiations with CBSA, CIL successfully stopped his deportation. We love winning our cases. We love helping our clients.

Our client got a “warning letter” from CBSA and they closed his file. This means that he will not be deported and he will be able to stay in Winnipeg with his family. The CBSA Officer accepted that he has been sufficiently punished by the Canadian criminal system. Deportation was canceled.

 

Success: Admissibility Hearing @ Immigration Division

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Clients come to CIL for all types of situations. We help clients apply for Passports. We help them apply for Police Clearance Certificates and Work Permit. We handle many applications for temporary status. Typically, those files are, relatively straightforward and the work is predictable. Then, there are complex, messy cases that take turn after turn. This was one of the latter cases.

Our client came to us more than one (1) year ago, after his Post Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) was refused. As you may have read from our Google Reviews, we have been successful with many international students who have had their PGWP refused and we were able to get them back on track to PR status. At the beginning, we thought that was one of those cases. We did the PGWP and Restoration application. Soon thereafter, CBSA got involved and the situation became serious. CBSA made the determination that our client was inadmissible based on A38 – Medical Inadmissibility:

  • 38 (1) A foreign national is inadmissible on health grounds if their health condition

    • (a) is likely to be a danger to public health;

    • (b) is likely to be a danger to public safety; or

    • (c) might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health or social services.

In legal terms, we call the above test the “excessive demand” test. At that time, we got the disclosure package from CBSA and we knew this was going to be a tough case.

At the same time, our client let us know that he got married to a Canadian citizen. They had been living together and they seemed to have a genuine relationship but they were reluctant to get legally married with everything going on. They decided to make their commitment to each other, to try to ensure that our client would not be removed/ deported from Canada.

We then assisted them with an SCLPC Class application and submitted the package to IRCC. As per above, CBSA has already referred our client to the IRB based on A38 – Medical Inadmissibility. So our job was to give the IRCC Officer as much time as possible to make a decision on the SCLPC Class application. We needed to ensure our client was not removed from Canada. SUCCESS! We got a positive decision from the Immigration Division!

We have provided a rough timeline of events below. I want to give credit to Naomi for spending hours (upon hours, upon hours) on this file, making sure the client and his family understood every step.

Date Action

 
1 SEP 2022 Client met Alastair for consultation regarding PGWP refusal

 
8 SEP 2022 Client retained our services for PGWP and Restoration

 
12 OCT 2022 Our office submitted application for PGWP and Restoration

 
2 NOV 2022 Client met Alastair for consultation regarding Admissibility Hearing and Spousal application

 
21 NOV 2022 Client retained our services for Spousal application

 
6 DEC 2022 Client retained our services to post-pone and represent Admissibility hearing scheduled for 19 DEC 2022

 
7 DEC 2022 Our office submitted a request to the ID to post-pone client’s admissibility hearing

 
7 DEC 2022 The ID responded with alternative Hearing dates and we re-scheduled for 8 FEB 2023 @ 11:00 am CST

 
23 JAN 2023 Submitted SCLPC application

 
8 FEB 2023 Admissibility postponed to 25 APR 2023 @ 10:30 AM due to not having enough time for witnesses

 
21 FEB 2023 IRCC provided temporary application number for SCLPC application

 
1 MAR 2023 IRCC sent Medical Examination instructions

 
28 MAR 2023 IRCC sent a letter confirming Sponsor meets the eligibility requirements as a Sponsor

 
5 APR 2023 IRCC sent a letter about reassessing clients eligibility requirements

 
12 APR 2023 Our office submitted a webform to IRCC to put PR application on hold

 
14 APRIL 2023 IRCC sent a letter confirming PGWP and restoration application was transferred to IRCC office in Edmonton

 
25 APR 2023 Admissibility hearing postponed due to member availability

 
13 JUN 2023 ID reached out to our office to re-scheduled Admissibility Hearing for 11 SEP 2023 @ 10:30 CDT

 
29 JUN 2023 IRCC sent a letter confirming client meets eligibility requirements as a Principal Applicant but still needs to pass the medical, security and background checks to become a PR

 
6 JUL 2023 IRCC sent a letter to confirm his PR application is being transferred to the IRCC office in Etobicoke for further assessment

 
8 AUG 2023 IRCC refused clients PGWP and Restoration application

 
9 AUG 2023 Client retained us to submit a Spousal Open Work Permit based on SCLPC application in process

 
10 AUG 2023 Our office submitted Spousal Open Work Permit via the Representative Portal

 
11 SEP 2023 Date of Admissibility Hearing

 

Our office and the ID did not know if client is a member of the Family class and resumption of Admissibility Hearing was scheduled for 2 NOV 2023

 
20 SEP 2023 Our office submitted a webform requesting if client has been determined to be a member of the Family Class

 
3 OCT 2023 Our office sent an email to CBSA requesting if they know if client has been determined to be a member of the Family Class
5 OCT 2023 CBSA provided GCMS notes and let us know that he sent 2 emails to IRCC

 
5 OCT 2023 Our office provided a copy of the SCLPC and OWP application to the ID and CBSA for their consideration by email and portal

 
19 OCT 2023 Our webform that was submitted on 20 SEP 2023 was added to the file

 
19 OCT 2023 Clients received a cold call from IRCC – Interview regarding genuine marriage

 
26 OCT 2023 Received VERY GOOD NEWS! IRCC Officer provided confirmation that client is a member of the Family Class

 

Success: IAD appeal

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Parents are so important to many families in Canada. Our clients pay their taxes, they work hard to make Canada a better place and they would like to be here with their parents. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to sponsor parents to come to Canada. Many of these applications are refused for many reasons, including the minimum necessary income requirement, medical requirements, or other elements to this application. Thankfully, we have won many, many cases at the IAD. We love appeals.

Visa Officers around the world scrutinize these applications. They may refuse an application based on minor mistakes. Many sponsors try to do the applications by themselves and they may get refusals. The IRCC refusal can be stressful for the family. They have already waited for a long time and the decision can be a shock.

In this case, our client has been trying to sponsor his parents. He has been working 3 jobs to bring up his income. As you may be aware, Visa Officers are focused on line 150 from the CRA Notices of Assessment. Every year, the MNI calculation changes, depending on the macroeconomic situation of residents in Canada. Our client’s application was refused and he came to us for help.

We were retained to help. We reviewed the application and GCMS notes. We redid many key parts of the application. We negotiated with Minister’s Counsel who defended the Officer’s decision. In the end, our appeal was allowed.

As you can see from the decision, the IAD was able to make its decision “IN CHAMBERS”. This means that we did not have an IAD hearing for this case. We were able to get a positive decision for our clients without oral evidence.

Our fees are based on the work involved, so our client’s fees for this case were very low. We did not charge for the testimony preparation or for the oral hearing. This makes sense, of course, but there are many lawyers out there who will charge exorbitant fees that are not based on the work they have actually done.

Success: PGWP & Restoration

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We love helping international students. They make so many sacrifices, both emotional and financial, to come to Canada to study. They pay more tuition than other students. They may suffer difficulties from being far from family. It can be quite difficult for them to settle into a new place and there are inherent stresses on this experience. Then, when these students finally graduate, they apply for a Post Graduate Work Permit. Most applicants try to do it themselves. The IRCC guide stresses how they do not need a lawyer or an agent. And, unfortunately, this can lead to a refusal. They may be asked to leave Canada “immediately” or “forthwith”. They do not know what to do so they come to us for help.

We have been able to help many international students get back on track to PR status. This is one of those cases. We have published other cases on our website as well. You can imagine that we do not publish every decision or every client’s story. We have too many files and we are simply too busy to do that. I wanted to share this story.

2016 – Client came to Canada to study

2020 – Client had difficulties with her studies and she took a semester off

2022 – Client had academic issues and she was a part-time student

2023 – Client consulted the Course Counselor at the University of Manitoba who advised that her academic issues would not impact her immigration

2023 – Client applied for PGWP – refused

2023 – Client retained CIL to do PGWP and Restoration

2023 – CIL submitted applications on her behalf – approved

 

The key to getting the above approval was all the work that was done to explain her circumstances. Staff at CIL spend hours (and hours and hours) to make sure all the language in the applications addresses all the potential issues.

For these applications, the IRCC generally does not give the applicant a chance to address issues. They simply make a decision based on the documents in the package. If the applicant fails to address a potential issue (even if they do not even know about the issue), the IRCC Officer may determine that the student is trying to hide or mislead.

In many cases, the international students are simply trying to do their best. They have been told the PGWP is “easy”. We have heard from many students that they thought, “I thought I could just do it myself”.

Of course, so much of the above does not make sense. International students may spend +$30,000.00 CAD on all the tuition and living expenses in Canada. Despite that investment, they take the risk to do one of the most important applications without a professional. We do not speak to the many international students who get successful results on their own, of course. For those students, we wish them all the best.

For international students who need help, we would like the chance to get you back on track to PR status.