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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 policy issues that truly matter to me this 42nd Canadian election, are a product of the experiences in this country; for me, a country I know I have the unique privilege of having been born in. The environment, jobs, health, security are all issues that I am keenly aware concern several of my compatriots. Yet, fortunately, I have not run into any of these challenges on a personal level.

For me, it is the single policy issue of Canadian immigration that keeps me up at night. I say this not only because I spend 12 hours a day at work worrying about immigration for my clients, but also because I spend 24 hours worrying about this issue for the security of my family and my future children, who will have an immigrant parent.

Both Raj Sharma and Mario Bellissimo, in respective pieces here and here, have expertly laid out issues and views I strongly side with, in terms of the direction of Canadian immigration policy on both family and economic fronts.

Both cite family reunification as something that needs to be given more value and viewed as a greater economic opportunity. I completely concur. There is also clearly the need for more humanitarianism in our system. I applaud the current Harper government’s decision to open the door to more Syrian refugees, but I think regardless of the pending election, Canada must do more for refugees both domestically and abroad and act faster in responding to global humanitarian crises. Canada also needs to send clearer messages to foreign caregivers who bring invaluable services to Canadian families while carving out their new lives in Canada that they are an asset and not a liability.

However, I think what I want and many Canadians want from the next government is not a specific policy change. Increasing a quota from 5,000 to 8,000 will never full capture the demand that exists for our beautiful country. It is inevitable that people will be left on the outside looking in.

I think what we want is a general attitude change by our policymakers to better communicate with an issue that often trumps several other policy concerns that newcomers to Canada have.

A Little Parable – At the Chinese Visa Office

Many months back, I was applying for a visa to go to China to visit my girlfriend. Due to the unclear Chinese-translated wording on the forms and the uniqueness of my situation I’ll admit I made a bit of a mess of the forms. As I went to the front desk, confusingly pointing at what category I should be applying under, the friendly individual at the front desk kindly guided me through each question and told me to fix and sign next to my corrected answers. My final application form looked like the first draft of an immigration form I help my clients edit. After one last check I was told to come back Thursday to pick up my visa. Sure enough when I came in a week the visa was approved.

It is quite easy to say China is not a comparable and that with that many people seeking entry there is no way to process everybody’s application as thoroughly as we do in Canada. However, I want to drive home the point that if the world’s most populous nation can station helpful humans across the world to personally assist with immigration challenges, surely can we do more. Surely we realize how a functioning visa system can reflect on a nation’s attitude as a whole. It is for many the first point of contact for Canada. It is not good for system integrity or our nation’s reptuation, when applicants need to rely on change.com social media campaigns to have their mother’s attend their wedding.

Furthermore, refusals themselves are a major burden on the system. While some will follow the literal message of the refusal letters and “apply again when they qualify,” many will try to judicially review or appeal decisions, make expensive Access to Information and Privacy requests, flood the call centre, and write letters to MPs. I once had a colleague who once told me the cost per hour of conducting an ATIP request could pay several government workers. I am not sure if there’s a more up-to-date report on this issue, but we know that the issue is at least 15 years old.

A report on Canada’s visa system commissioned in 2013 made several recommendations in March 2014 including providing standardized letters of invitation and complete reasons for refusal to failed applicants. Neither of these recommendations have been acted on. Other suggestions such as providing short-term emergency visas secured by bonds have also not been acted on. The Government’s own Open Source figures, which do not include returned application, show a huge discrepancy against applicant’s from Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African countries. Yet little has been done to try and address these clear communication barriers between Applicant and Government.

The problem of communication extends beyond Canada’s visitor visa regime and is a microcosm of a larger communication challenge. The Express Entry system, in place since January 2014, replaces officer communication with mathematical algorithms that attempt to cookie cutter applicant lives without taking into account the necessary discretion provided by the laws themselves. In the Temporary Foreign Worker context, communication still occurs largely by unverified fax. Answers to seemingly two-second administrative issues take months and months of attempted communication and legal action to resolve. These all add up to costs and could all be saved by more human (or effective digital) communication.

Ultimately, had I applied for my Chinese visa under a system as uptight and rigid as the current Canadian system, I would have not been able to see my girlfriend. It would be unclear if that future family I dream about every night would even be able to materialize given it was my only permissible vacation in 9 months.

Better Communication and More Transparency

I think Canadians deserve to know the why of our immigration system. The why usually only comes out in a short paragraph in the Canada Gazettes that most of the time leaves those of us who study these laws closely quite unsatisfied. Canadians deserve to know why certain amount of parents and spouses approved every year. Canadians deserve to know why their family members cannot attend their weddings and funerals. Canadians deserve to know at the very least what the program requirements are of each program without having to rely on a user experience forum or a high-priced lawyer to figure out basic program eligibility questions.

What party can come out and say they will invest in immigrants and invest in increasing communication and transparency. My election vote will go to that party.

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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 did not undergo any prior screening or vetting. Decisions were made solely at the port of entry and concurrently Canada’s border/immigration system was susceptible to allowing in visitors, who had not made prior applications to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and who are ultimately inadmissible, into Canada.

Importantly, Canada made some commitments in the Canada–U.S. Beyond the Border Action Plan several years ago where they pledged to introduce an eTA regime. They were bound by those commitments to introduce the regime.

I want to highlight in this piece, five things you might not know about the eTA regime.  

By the way, I will not go through a comprehensive review of the regime. For those who want to read more about the policy changes in general, check out CIC’s Program Delivery Update for August 1, 2015 and the text of new Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) via the Part 2 – Gazette in April of this year. Check out also my colleague Steve Meurren’s post for a summary of the new regime.


#1 – The eTA now allows for visa-exempt visitors to Canada to be issued removal orders from outside Canada.  Until that removal order is enforced, the visitor will not get an eTA and not be allowed to come to Canada.

This authority is created by  by subsection 240(2) of IRPR which states (emphasis added):

 (1) A removal order against a foreign national, whether it is enforced by voluntary compliance or by the Minister, is enforced when the foreign national

. . . .

When removal order is enforced by officer outside Canada

(2) If a foreign national against whom a removal order has not been enforced is applying outside Canada for a visa, an authorization to return to Canada or an electronic travel authorization, an officer shall enforce the order if, following an examination, the foreign national establishes that

(a) they are the person described in the order;

(b) they have been lawfully admitted to the country in which they are physically present at the time that the application is made; and

(c) they are not inadmissible on grounds of security, violating human or international rights, serious criminality or organized criminality.

And until that removal order is enforced (i.e. they meet the above requirements), s.25.2 of IRPR applies:

Electronic travel authorization not to be issued

25.2 An electronic travel authorization shall not be issued to a foreign national who is subject to an unenforced removal order.

#2 Cancelling an eTA (at least from a legal perspective) is not as easy as CIC makes it seem (from a policy perspective).

The intersection between policy and law always play an interesting role in Canadian immigration law. As the Federal Courts have made clear on several occasions, online instruction guides, processing manuals, operational bulletins (which now can be extended to include program delivery updates) do not constitute law.

Often times CIC will provide instructions that summarize the law without providing its full details or make recommendations that aren’t legal policy (e.g. when they tell applicants they should apply for extensions 30 days before expiry for several programs, when often times doing may hurt their implied status).

CIC writes on their webpage regarding eTAs:

For how long is an eTA valid?

Section 12.05 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations indicates that an eTA is valid for five years or until the applicant’s passport expires, whichever occurs sooner.

Section 12.06 of the Regulations indicates that an eTA can be cancelled by a designated officer. Once cancelled, an eTA is no longer valid.

While this statement is not incorrect per-se- it omits a few important details.

Cancellation

12.06 An officer may cancel an electronic travel authorization that was issued to a foreign national if

  • (a) the officer determines that the foreign national is inadmissible; or

  • (b) the foreign national is the subject of a declaration made under subsection 22.1(1) of the Act.

Subsection 22,.1(1) of the Act (Immigration and Refugee Protection Act) is an interesting one.

This section allows the Minister, on his or her own initiative, to declare that a foreign national cannot be come a temporary resident for a period of three years, justified by “public policy considerations.” The underlying provisions has been in force since August 2013 but it appears no Federal Court jurisprudence (at least none that I could find) talk about this provision. To me it is a very discretionary provisions.

Could we see an increase of cancellations of eTAs on s.22.1(1) IRPA grounds where inadmissibility has not yet been made out but there is some concern about the individual’s background? I certainly think so.

 

#3 – Adverse Information on your immigration file may mean your eTAs might take a while.

CIC has made available by way its most recent program delivery update, updated instructions for how to assess adverse information on file for an eTA applicant.

CIC writes (emphasis in original and added):

If the applicant previously applied for entry to Canada (either through a CIC program or through the CBSA at the port of entry), or if they are already known to CIC (through intelligence, for example), and if there is adverse information on file for the applicant, it will be uncovered through the automated eTA screening process, which will cause the application to be referred for manual review.

Officers should consider:

  • Did the adverse information result in a previous refusal?
    • If so:
      • What is the full story behind the refusal? Look at the case notes to fully understand the reason for the previous refusal. It is not sufficient to only look at the refusal ground(s).
      • Was the applicant previously refused because they did not meet the specific needs of the category to which they were applying? For example, if they were refused a work permit because they did not provide a labour market impact assessment, would this impact their eligibility to come to Canada as a visitor?
      • Have their circumstances changed since the refusal? Is this still a concern?
      • Has the applicant received an approval between the time of their eTA application and the adverse information on file? Note that the automated eTA screening process will not take this into account when determining if a case should be referred for manual review.
    • If not:
      • What type of adverse information is on file?
      • How long ago was it entered?
      • Has the applicant received an approval between the time of their eTA application and the adverse information on file? Note that the automated eTA screening process will not take this into account when determining if a case should be referred for manual review.

An officer must be satisfied that an applicant is not inadmissible to Canada under A34 to 40 prior to issuing an eTA. Officers initiate and conduct admissibility activities as needed. This may include screening requests to partners, criminal record checks, info sharing, medical exams and misrepresentation activities.

I find CIC’s example of applying for a work permit without an LMIA kind of curious, as not meeting program requirements does not directly lead to an inadmissibility. However, it appears to suggest that for these type of cases, a procedural fairness letter may be sent to eTA applicants asking them to “explain the circumstances”, with the ultimate fear being that an applicant is attempting to enter Canada to work without authorization.

What this all means, is an Applicant needs to be very careful with misrepresentation (a topic I have written about quite extensively, so see previous posts!).

 

#4 Permanent Resident Problems are Coming 

Strategically for a permanent resident, there may have been reasons in the past to enter Canada on a separate passport or travel document (particularly if their permanent resident card had expired or was lost and/or they no longer met the residency requirement).

eTAs effectively end that practice and create an added barrier – the e-relinquishment process.

CIC writes in their website section titled “Manual processing Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) applications“) (emphasis added):

Officers should consider:

  • Based on case history, is the applicant indeed a permanent resident?
  • Based on case history, has the applicant renounced their permanent resident status? Often, even though a person has renounced their status, their GCMS profile still shows them as a permanent resident.

Procedure

Level 1 decision-makers at the OSC will query for these applications by performing a search in “IMM activities, Auto Searches.” The “Activity” will be “Derogatory information,” the “Sub-activity” will be “Client Derogatory Information,” and the “Status” will be “Review Required.”

If the applicant is a permanent resident and has not already gone through the formal process of relinquishing their status, they should be contacted to determine whether they would like to voluntarily relinquish their status

  • If the applicant does not wish to relinquish:

    • The officer must withdraw the application
    • Advise the applicant that they will need to get an appropriate travel document that demonstrates that they are a permanent resident, which may necessitate a determination of their status (PDF, 665.91 KB)
  • If the applicant would like to relinquish:

Again, expect this new eTA to increase the number of residency determinations and will likely trickle through to more appeals at the Immigration Appeal Division.

 

#5 Interactive Advance Passenger Information (IAPI) and Carrier Messenger Requirements (CMR) make Airline Staff the Front-Line Messengers for the new eTA program

An Applicant holds a valid eTA and is now booking a plane ticket. Now what?

There is a whole process that runs in the backdrop between commercial Airline Carriers and Canada Border Services Agency to inform them of who is on the plane that will be arriving in Canada. A lot of the front end information sharing will essentially begin with you entering your name into a flight reservation system to buy tickets all the way until you arrive in […]

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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 husband. This application came after a 2012 sponsorship via her daughter was refused regarding concerns about the biological relationship and misrepresentation.  They submitted their application through Hong Kong.

The interview led the Officer to find that the relationship did not “share a level of financial and emotional interdependence expected of a genuinely married couple. The Officer was also “not satisfied that this is not a bad faith marriage entered into primarily for immigration purposes.”

Interesting aspect #1 – Federal Court Affidavits Containing New Information

As it is well established in jurisprudence, affidavits filed in support of Federal Court proceedings cannot contain new evidence that was not in front of the officer/tribunal who rendered the initial decision on review.

Counsel Richard Wazana brought forward an argument through the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada v Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright), 2012 FCA 22 at para 20 that the new evidence should be admitted. Justice Boswell, concurred on this point in part, writing at paragraph 5 of his decision:

However, since the Applicant has alleged various procedural defects not apparent on the face of the record (Association of Universities at paragraph 20), some of this additional evidence adduced by the Applicant may be considered by the Court in reviewing the procedure by which the decision was rendered.

I have similarly used this argument in a Federal Court case (pending in decision) although we did not expand on it as much as we probably could of. The Association of University Colleges case has not been cited as much as I think it should and it can prove a good counterbalance to selective “recording” of GCMS notes that can often occur and needs to be disputed with affidavit evidence.

Interesting aspect #2- opportunity to meaningfully address Officer’s concerns.

I am sure many of you have seen the classic game show “The Newlywed Game” where newly-married couples are asked a set of similar questions which often reveal contrasting and contradictory answers.

While on the TV show this is a source of laughter and entertainment, in real life this is a major source of application refusals and arguably the very premise of the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) Spousal Appeal witness testimony process. Differing answers, unsatisfactory answers, culturally unappealing answers can all lead to refusal or negative factors against the genuineness of the relationship.

I applaud Justice Boswell for being very open about his criticism of the current process in his reasoning.

I want to take out a series of interesting quotes from the judgment, as to rewrite them would not do his decision justice. I have also run into almost every single one of these issues in my spousal/judicial review work thus far. Emphasis has been added at several locations.

[7]               In the GCMS notes, the Officer listed numerous concerns, notably as to: the inconsistencies or discrepancies in the Applicant’s and her husband’s answers; the Applicant apparently receiving social assistance for housing; her frequent travel to Windsor to visit her daughter and grandchildren; the Applicant seeming to know very little about her husband’s private or personal life (e.g. his hobbies); her previous permanent residence application being refused due to non-compliance and misrepresentation, something which the Officer stated “undermines the credibility of the relationship”; her husband’s economic plans and wanting someone to take care of him, which prompted the Officer to write that “it seems that sponsor’s relationship to applicant is more like a caregiver”; and, lastly, not being satisfied that the stated genesis and development of the relationship demonstrated they were in a genuine relationship.

[8]               I agree with the Applicant that it was procedurally unfair for the Officer not to apprise her of some of these concerns as they arose and not to offer her a meaningful opportunity to address such concerns.

[9]               Furthermore, I disagree with the Respondent that the duty of procedural fairness was satisfied in this case merely by granting the Applicant an interview and did not require the Officer to tell the Applicant whenever her story diverged from that of her sponsor. The Officer’s concerns in this case were not related to the sufficiency of the evidence but, rather, to the credibility of the Applicant herself and the genuineness of the marriage. The Officer here should have provided the Applicant with a meaningful opportunity to respond to the concerns in this regard.

A little later on Justice Boswell writes…

[15]           In my view, maintaining an arcane exception for spousal interviews is unwarranted in cases where an applicant’s credibility is an issue. There is nothing particularly unique about spousal interviews which would warrant such special treatment. Although applicants may present their spouses as witnesses to the genuineness of their marriage, this does not mean they should be presumed to know exactly how their spouses will respond to every question.

…….

[17]           A duty to confront the spouses with any inconsistencies would also not be unduly onerous. It would usually just add a few extra minutes to the end of an interview. This is something which appears to be not unusual (see e.g. Singh v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2012 FC 23 at paragraph 7, 403 FTR 271; Rahman v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2013 FC 877 at paragraphs 8 and 10; Ossete Ngouabi v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2013 FC 1269 at paragraph 9; Lin v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 FC 53 at paragraphs 9 and 31).

Why I believe this case has the potential to be VERY important

This case is important because it represents a real challenge of the status-quo of the interview process. Applicants and Sponsors are often put in a lose-lose situation with these interviews. Prepare too much, and sound scripted and not genuine. Prepare not enough, or just be a normal forgetful person, and be found to have differing answers and not genuine.

Furthermore, Citizenship and Immigration Canada in their OP 2 – Processing Members of the Family Class Guide has specifically removed the guidelines/instructions of determining genuineness of the relationship in order to protect system integrity.

Our only real sense of genuineness is (asides from previous case law) has unfortunately come from the controversy surrounding the CIC training manual applying very cultural and economically insensitive characteristics, an issue that I previously covered.

On that note I often find the use of the caregiver ground of refusal  (found in Huang as well) very frustrating and insensitive. Cases where there is discrepancy in the financial earnings, career aspirations, and mental/educational capacity of Applicants and Spouses are often chalked as “caregiver” rather than genuine relationships. The cases of this I seen have most often involved spouses from Mainland China. I equate it to an officer questioning “why the hell would you ever marry that person?” It can be quite hurtful.

Overall, what I think Justice Boswell is saying, is that this process needs to be fixed up. Offering an interview and trying to play “good cop/bad cop” to elicit different answers on very minute details in order to undermine credibility requires more procedural fairness.

It is a great decision that I hope visa officers begin applying. My perspective has always been – you never punish 99% of legitimate Canadian couples to try and get at the 1%. In truth, it is the 1% that probably has every single detail memorized and shared to a T.

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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 family was able to keep its deaf child in Canada, and a Nigerian family was able to remain in Canada with their American-born son.

It’s part of a growing trend that has seen immigration issues receive much better coverage in the Canadian media from articles discussing Bill C-24 to stories about immigrant applicants’ trials and tribulations.

Interestingly, the way recent reporting on individual immigrant stories has occurred contrasts greatly with coverage of other legal issues, such as major crime. Rather than prematurely vilify and convict, the media has been quick to defend many immigrants, and to criticize the Canadian government for its poor policymaking.

Ironically, this has injected the presumption of innocence into an immigration system where such a concept did not previously exist. In my view, this has helped to level the playing field for applicants and to bring awareness to the challenges of our immigration system.

However, several recent stories have also highlighted the worrying trend of the mainstream media being overused or improperly used to deliver specific, individualized Canadian immigration results.

Emotion alone should not guide decision-making

It may seem hypocritical for an immigration lawyer and freelance journalist to be writing this piece. Like some journalists, I, too, have taken off my lawyer hat and criticized the government for producing certain immigration results, sometimes prematurely.

The recent case of the U.K. man who was allegedly excluded from Canada for helping his girlfriend renovate her house is a great example. It was carried by two major British newspapers not necessarily known for balanced perspectives or understanding of Canadian immigration law issues.

I know I commented angrily based on my own experiences with clients with border issues, but admittedly both stories were short on the relevant facts needed to assess whether it was the correct decision by the border officers.

An immigration system cannot be based solely on who can present the most emotionally compelling case.

I find that an increasing number of stories that I read tread dangerously close to appeals to emotion, where incomplete facts are presented and an ideal outcome is then suggested.

Perhaps even more troubling is the fact immigration officials are responding to these cases, seemingly only as a public relations effort, but not in accordance with their own laws and policies. As a result, I have seen clients in similar situations left scratching their heads, contemplating their own media campaigns.

An immigration system cannot be based solely on who can present the most emotionally compelling case. Successful applicants should be asked to meet a baseline of legally clear requirements.

Some individuals have stories of hardship, but will have no immigration options. There are also Canadian immigration programs that specifically consider applicants’ hardship. This balance is necessary. Anything else would inject too much officer discretion and encourage too much exaggeration from applicants, both of which are deeply harmful to system integrity.

Media coverage also raises an underlying ethical dilemma (we can call this the “Conrad Black example”) – should we be giving preference in our system to high-profile immigrants?

Inaccurate reporting can dramatically impact applicants’ lives

Don’t get me wrong. Some journalists write on immigration issues carefully. The best present the facts of immigrants’ cases diligently, outline their basic legal issues clearly and ensure that both the immigrants’ and the government’s sides of the story are presented properly. They encourage dialogue and protect privacy and anonymity when appropriate.

However, I have also read several stories in the media recently where it was apparent that outside input and assistance was not sought prior to publishing.

It is vital that journalists seek some outside assistance when publishing pieces because their articles, while generally of limited evidential value in courts of law, can be relied upon as documentary evidence in immigration applications and appeals.

I would suggest that the recent case of the American-born child to Nigerian parents is an example of this. I do not want to comment on its substantive merits, given the case is still in progress. However, I found that some of the articles failed to adequately present the law and policy in the area, which although quite harsh in its consequences, is more clear in its application.

It is vital that journalists seek some outside assistance when publishing pieces because their articles, while generally of limited evidential value in courts of law, can be relied upon as documentary evidence in immigration applications and appeals.

The information contained in these reports can also serve as outside evidence considered by immigration officers who verify applicants’ information themselves.

Factual inaccuracies or ill-advised quotes in these articles could affect future immigration. Meanwhile, if too much personal information is revealed in these news stories, some immigrants’ abilities to obtain jobs or travel safely to their home countries may be compromised.

The media’s role moving forward

Rather than acting as a mouthpiece for individual applicants on an ad hoc basis, the media could speak up with a loud and clear voice when a high-level of wrongdoing occurs – either to individuals or groups.

I think the best case for media importance is the Lucia Vargas Jimenez suicide in 2013, which began the present day scrutiny of our immigration detention system and the push to end the practice of transit police reporting immigrants to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) simply for fare violations.

On the contrary, it is interesting to note that in the Jimenez case, CBSA’s internal response was muted due to fear of a media explosion over the issue. From the government perspective, more balanced media coverage may encourage proactive disclosure of negative news.

I believe the media can, and does, play a key role in uncovering and highlighting institutional challenges.

The media can also play an important role in probing key immigration stakeholders. By presenting more stories about the work of immigration settlement services, pro bono legal clinics and others serving immigrants, the media can help fund those resources.

Finally, the media is a key catalyst for access to justice. The fact that individuals have been increasingly willing to go to the media with their stories before engaging legal counsel and resolving issues with government officials highlights the inaccessibility of our immigration system. I believe the media can, and does, play a key role in uncovering and highlighting these institutional challenges.

Overall, the rise of media coverage that informs Canadians of, and holds government officials accountable on, immigration policy is a good thing for our democracy. What the public must do next is ensure the media is used to advance the integrity of the immigration system as a whole, rather than for just a few individuals.


Will Tao is a Canadian immigration lawyer and freelance journalist based out of Vancouver, B.C. He is the co-founder and lead-author of the Canadian immigration blog, Vancouverimmigrationblog.com.

This article was written with assistance from Abigail Cheung. Passionate about immigration since her undergraduate studies in Ethnicity, Race and Migration at Yale University, Cheung will enter her final year at Osgoode Hall Law School this fall.

 

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Will Tao is an Award-Winning Canadian Immigration and Refugee Lawyer, Writer, and Policy Advisor based in Vancouver. Vancouver Immigration Blog is a public legal resource and social commentary.

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