‘Young, Single, Mobile, and Without Dependents’ – Why the Courts Need to Step In
Among a few frustrating trends, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) continues to refuse temporary resident applications (namely visitor visas and study permits) by single applicants, who are younger, and do not have spouses/dependent children. More often than not these individuals come from countries where there may be a presumption of a primarily (permanent) immigration […]
Revealing More About Reconsideration: What Our Latest Obtained Unreleased IRCC Training Guides/Manuals Tell Us
One of the most underappreciated and underutilized remedies in Canadian immigration is that of the reconsideration request. I do not blame advisors or applicants for this one. This is a general veil on what this remedy entails – especially as the existing policy guidance and materials are not presented as general instructions, rather specific to […]
Shifting from Lived Experiences to Heard Experiences
In both advocacy and community, I have been hearing a lot about ‘lived experiences.’ While generally a positive term about showing up with authenticity and reflecting only on what you know and have been through, the term can be over-used, and done so in a harmful way for more powerful voices to speak their lived […]
Three Challenges I Can Already Foresee: Canada’s Temporary Public Policy for International Graduates
On 14 April 2021, the Minister released a Temporary Public Policy (“TPP”) for international graduates, including the creation of a 40,000 cap for those with a recent Canadian post-secondary credential issued since January 2017 (See: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/public-policies/trpr-international-graduates.html). While this move is rightfully being lauded as part of a larger set of Temporary Public Policies that open […]
Five Things I Wish International Students Knew Before Applying for Canadian Study Permits
Setting the Scene: Where We Are At and Where We Are Going I have been struggling with this post – to capture the experiences of the many prospective clients/international student applicants who have entered our door of late asking about their study permits, more specifically why they have been refused, delayed, or found inadmissible for […]
How the Federal Court of Appeal, Federal Court, and We as Young Racialized Advocates See Vavilov’s Application in Immigration Cases, One Year Later, March 2021
Last month I had the privilege of presenting to the CBA National Administrative Law Section’s, Vavilov, One Year Later panel (see: https://www.cbapd.org/details_en.aspx?id=na_NA21LAW04A) I was definitely in the presence of some big hitters, from the moderator Pam Hrick (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamhrick/?originalSubdomain=ca) to advocate extraordinaire Audrey Boctor (https://imk.ca/en/team/audrey-boctor/) to one of the legends of Canadian administrative law David Jones, […]
Express Entry: Three Things to Ask Your Representative About Your eAPR Before They Submit + One Bonus Tip
As many of you are aware, Express Entry took a new direction last week when 27,332 Invitations to Apply were issued to Canadian Experience Class applicants at a record-low 75 CRS points I will not repeat what I have on Twitter and other channels. I would have preferred an ordered and organized invitation to apply […]
