VIB STUDENT WEEK (Post 2): BRAVING THE FALLS – Canadian Immigration Challenges and Designated Learning Institutions
Introduction Without drowning out the metaphor, it is clear that the Canadian immigration environment that Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Designated Learning institution (“DLIs”) find themselves in today is more akin to a huge waterfall than a calm ocean. Over the past two years, DLIs have found themselves subject to increased scrutiny, tasked with greater and […]
VIB Student Week (Post 1) – Distance Learning, Our Distant Understanding
As we welcome the end of the summer, and Canada’s begins welcoming international students to its many world-class learning institutions, Vancouver Immigration Blog (VIB) will take an in-depth look at student-related Canadian immigration issues. This is student week! We hope students and institutions alike find this series particularly useful. What is Distance Learning? With the […]
AND… It’s Coming: Immigration Minister’s Broad ‘Authority for Negative Discretion’
Introduction In an earlier blog post on Electronic Travel Authorizations (eTAs), I wrote about my “theory” that Negative Discretion declarations under section 22.1 of Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) would increase. To recap, IRPA allows the Minister’s on his own initiative to declare that that a foreign national may not become a temporary resident for […]
OPINION: Why Immigration is My Canadian Election Issue – Changing Our Attitude and Communication
Like many of my Canadian friends heading into the end of the summer, I am what the pundits would call an ‘undecided voter.’ Speaking very frankly, none of the three catch-all parties, have to this date won my votes on their policy positions. For me, like many of my first and second-class Canadian friends, the […]
Canada’s New Electronic Travel Authorization Regime: 5 Things You May Not Have Known
Because the actual requirement to hold an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) does not kick in until March 2016, the regime has been understudied and largely unreported outside of the immigration legal community. On the surface, the new eTA requirement conceptually seems quite simple. Up to now, those exempt from the temporary resident visa requirement process […]
The Federal Court in Huang Challenges the Spousal Interview Process
I found Justice Boswell’s judgment in Huang v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) 2015 FC 905 to be a very fascinating read. The background facts in Huang are not presented very extensively, as the decision turned mostly on procedural fairness. Ms. Huang was a 63-year old citizen of China who was being sponsored by her Canadian […]
Media Must Be Cautious Covering Individual Immigration Cases
This article has been reposted from my New Canadian Media piece: http://newcanadianmedia.ca/item/29342-media-must-be-cautious-covering-individual-immigration-cases The media has recently served as a powerful platform for immigrants seeking to appeal negative decisions, such as deportation orders and permanent residency denials. This year alone, a star American CFL football player used the media to obtain his Canadian permanent residence, a […]
