International Students and the Law

Award-Winning Canadian Immigration and Refugee Law and Commentary Blog

Blog Posts

Three Common Mistakes Canadian Immigration Applicants Make When Documenting Employment/Personal History and My New Strategy

Recently, I have had a major increase in misrepresentation consultations and other related issues with one common starting point: incorrect work/personal history that either Canadian immigration has found or will eventually find out about.

There are several forms that canvass work/personal history. This ranges from initial application forms (IMM 1294, IMM 1295, etc.) to the IMM 5257E Application for a Temporary Resident Visa Forms, to the dreaded IMM 5669 – Schedule A.

Excerpt from IMM 1294 form

Each form (and accompanying instructions) often ask for the materials a different way. Some forms ask for only employment history, whereas others as for a full ten-year history. Complexities also arise when certain visa offices want a full personal history starting from the age of 18, but do not make these instructions apparent at the outset, requiring them later in request letters.

What often happens is a hot mess of unclear work dates, forgotten travels, mistaken residences, and IRCC analyzing all of these for possibly material misrepresentations that may impact officer assessment.

To make things even more complicated, misrepresentations can extend to past applications, even if it is attempted to be corrected. Memories are imperfect, what is required to be disclosed is confusing, and unfortunately perfectly innocent applicants can make devastating mistakes.

While there are some positive trends in judicial interpretation, the law around misrepresentation in Canada is harsh: a five-year bar from Canada (and from applying for permanent residence) regardless of the intent of the error or omission, and a thin-exception for innocent misrepresentation.

In this post, I look at three common mistakes I see applicants (and their representatives make) and how to avoid them. I will close with a new approach I am taking to documenting work history for my clients on temporary resident applications.

 

Mistake 1: Omitting Material Personal History/Blurring Dates Together

There are several sub-mistakes under this category:

[1] Applicants often include only their last position held, rather than to breakdown the various positions within a company

This one may seem innocuous now, but on a PR application or when facing an employer’s reference letter that paints a different picture this could be an issue. Often times these dates are also contradicted by public information you may have about yourself online, such as your LinkedIn profile or a biography you hastily submitted to a third-party who has posted it online.

Visa Offices also have many internal tools at their fingertips. For example, for China, they have access to a quite comprehensive ‘legal persons’ registry for businesses. Particularly for entrepreneurs or businesspersons who own multiple businesses, failures to disclose one (even if it is unclear whether it constitutes employment or ownership) could constitute misrepresentation. This was the fact pattern in the Federal Court’s decision in Sun v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2019 FC 824 (CanLII).

My rule of thumb is to over-disclose rather than under-disclose if there are no inadmissibility risks to the additional details being disclosed and it may set forward a good groundwork to get ahead of a potential issue or pave the way for a future application. If your disclosure of the item could affect your eligibility, consider whether applying on misrepresented information could come back to haunt you in the future.

Yet, many times the information being omitted is not itself going to change the decision of the Officer, but the very omission of the information could impact the Officer’s processing or review of the requirements, which could make it a material misrepresentation.

 

[2] Applicants often don’t include periods of unemployment, self-employment, and educational pursuits

Often times Applicants only provide just the formal work/employment history and forget to include the personal history. Again, the forms make it a bit confusing. In the description of the form, it asks for employment history, but in the fine print it may say to include periods of unemployment or leave no gaps. Another challenging aspect is that certain applications (co-op work permits and post-graduate work permits) do not actually require full disclosure of work history, whereas other applications (temporary resident visas inside Canada) do. We play it safe by including a running 10-year history for all applicants, regardless of it is a requirement.

This often rears its head as an issue when a visa is refused for lack of continuous study or lack of relevant employment history demonstrating there are opportunities in the country of residence. When it is only indicated that one is ‘unemployed’, the literal interpretation  the Officer will take is that you are at home doing nothing. Trying to start up your own business or taking pre-requisite courses for a formal program of study, is not sitting home doing nothing and may be very material. Failure to include this initially could create discrepancies later (see mistake 3 below).

 

[3] Applicants do not disclose sufficient details in the personal histories

In my work often reviewing materials for refused clients, often who applied the first time themselves or less competent counsel, there are common themes.

Rather than put detailed descriptions of position or title – words such as “employee” or “management” or “police officer” are used. Alternatively, when discussing employment rather than put the company or school name, answers such as “restaurant business” or “self-employed” or put down. Immigration Officers may want to conduct an inadmissibility inquiry into your former work place, or verify that you indeed worked for said employer or that such a company/organization exists.

If there is an admissibility concern or clarification to be made, make sure to make it on a letter of explanation or clarify (see attached). Too often I see clarifying explanation missing until after a Procedural Fairness Letter (PFL) is received. This is often times far too late in the game.

 

 

Mistake 2: Not Correcting the Mistake When IRCC Gives You a Chance (Requests vs. PFLs)

When IRCC notices an inconsistency (and depending on what visa office and what type of application), there may be the opportunity provided to fix an inconsistency. Commonly, especially if a misrepresentation is not apparent on the surface, a request letter will be issued offering an opportunity to clarify or seeking further information. `

The tendency with request letters, I find, is to blindly try and answer them as soon as possible. Applicants immediately take a defensive position, without thinking at that stage that the request letter could be the set up for an A16(1) IRPA (failure to truthfully provided requested documents) or worse yet, an A40 IRPA (misrepresentation) refusal. Given the withdrawal of an application is unlikely to be granted after a PFL is issued and the leg work is all but done at that stage, it is as the request letter stage that clarifications need to be sought and legal arguments made.

Repeated errors in providing accurate information or misunderstanding request letters could later lead to further challenges arguing innocent misrepresentation or seeking discretion later on in the process.

 

Mistake 3: Not Keeping Adequate Records and Inconsistencies Between Applications

Visa Offices such as those in India (especially Delhi and Chandigarh) and China (Beijing) now utilize artificial intelligence tools that will be able to spot an inconsistency instantaneously.

Before submitting an application, if possible, compare your forms with previous forms submitted. Better yet, request or obtain (by access to information) a copy of all final forms before a representative submits any application for you.

Another discrepancy I see is with address history, travel history, and work history on forms. Where these do not align, and particularly when it comes to permanent residence applications that look into where work was performed and where the Applicant was located, and whether or not the claimed work matches with past records – this becomes ever so important. Virtual work or work through multiple client sites is becoming more popular, and failure to properly document this in respective applications may complicate things when permanent residence rolls around.

 

My New Approach: Focusing on Forms First, and then Attachments

In the past, a move I did (and one I know many counsel mirror) is to put “please see attached” on the work history sections or personal history sections of some validated temporary resident forms and then add a work document. This option will not be available with the new online temporary resident portal, which like Express Entry do not allow you to move on to the next page until there are no gaps. In the interim, what I am suggesting with the validated forms is still to list as much as possible on the form and then add ‘see attached’ on the final line before continuing.

The reason for this is that IRCC has been focusing on auto-populating systems like Chinook that appear to extract information directly from forms into their internal processing system. I am worried that my attached table found at the back of my rep’s submission letter is missed by a processing agent or in review. We know increasingly that the Officers are only accessing the information extracted for their review and are under a major time crunch. This little tip might help practitioners and self-reps.

 

Some Positive News: Court Critical on IRCC’s Need for a Materiality Analysis of Misrepresentation

While misrepresentation is often a death trap for an immigration application, the Federal Court has recently been pushing back on the tendency of IRCC to equate a mistake as misrepresentation, without an analysis of materiality.

In Alves v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2021 FC 716 (CanLII), Justice Manson allowed a judicial review after finding that an Officer’s finding of misrepresentation was unreasonable. The Applicant disclosed one of his previous refusals to the United States, but had omitted an earlier one.

Justice Manson writes:

[19] However, an officer must consider the totality of the evidence before the decision maker (Koo v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration)2008 FC 931 at para 23). The Officer, in this case, failed to recognize the potential significance of the mitigating evidence, as it relates to the finding of misrepresentation without meaningfully coming to grips with the facts before the Officer. Instead, the Officer broadly found that the Applicant had […]

Read More »

The Problem With Education Agents Performing Unauthorized Immigration Services

It has come to my attention recently that the very important section 91 of IRPA is often misinterpreted by education agents so let’s break it down a bit.

Representation or advice for consideration

  •  (1) Subject to this section, no person shall knowingly, directly or indirectly, represent or advise a person for consideration — or offer to do so — in connection with the submission of an expression of interest under subsection 10.1(3) or a proceeding or application under this Act.

  • Marginal note:Persons who may represent or advise

    (2) A person does not contravene subsection (1) if they are

    • (a) a lawyer who is a member in good standing of a law society of a province or a notary who is a member in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec;

    • (b) any other member in good standing of a law society of a province or the Chambre des notaires du Québec, including a paralegal; or

    • (c) a member in good standing of a body designated under subsection (5).

Many educational agents or unauthorized consultants claim that they are able to help for free or a recovery administrative fee basis because they are not being paid immigration service-related fees directly by the client. This unfortunately is an overly narrow reading of s. 91 IRPA.

If the application’s success (i.e. student getting a seat at the school) pays you, you are receiving consideration (albeit on what we often call ‘contingency’). Furthermore, even if you do not actually sign a Use of Representative Form but are contributing (i.e. advising) as it pertains to immigration advice on a study permit application – you are advising with respect to an application.

It is also not simply good enough to have a ghost-signing RCIC on your contact list, or hire one internally for your organization. While the former might squeak by on ethical standards or not get caught, the second clearly does not change the issue of consideration. Furthermore, in most cases if you try and seek remuneration or some benefit back, that too could constitute consideration. For example, if an RCIC promises you to send all of their possible student referrals for schools, while you send it back to them for the immigration work, that could constitute consideration in relation to an application for both of you.

I have heard from a colleague that often times educational consultants or former RCICs will contact newer consultants, hoping they can utilize them to help sign-off on immigration applications. In exchange, work is promised and fees are split. Be very cautious of these arrangements with respect to your own level competency but most importantly your obligation to the clients to disclose where their fees are going and who they are being split with. As lawyers, we have strict ethical obligations not to split fees with third-parties other than lawyers. While the wording is much looser currently for consultants, expect the new regulatory/ethic codes for the College to step up significantly on this front.

When representing your client’s best interest (which in some cases may be withdrawing or deferring one’s admission or choice of educational institution), reaping benefits from an institution paying you to recruit for them is indelibly a conflict.

Whenever I advise a student from any institution where I might even have the slightest advisory relationship, I always disclose in writing what that relationship is and ensure they know that my advice will be confidential. Another common book in the shady educational agent playbook is to have the agent act as a ‘family friend’ or ‘relative’ or in the worst cases I have seen even attempt to stand in for the client. Remember, as a practitioner, your regulatory obligation to confirm your client identity – which includes asking the individual to turn their camera on to confirm they match the ID they provided.

 

I wish IRCC made Section 91 Clearer and Provided Examples

IRCC has been touting for quite awhile recently a very pro-self representative angle. While it is laudable that IRCC is making their platforms much more self-representative friendly, one of the consequences has also been the use of this language to support further ghost consulting and undisclosed consulting. I have seen agents, in the guise of being family friends or interested parties, assist on immigration applications and even appoint themselves as counsel, full well-knowing they will benefit from the student if the application is approved.

The way it currently works (in almost all cases other than rare exceptions in one Province in Canada) is there is no requirement for institutions to disclose to the student, what percentage of their tuition goes to the agent, no requirement for the agent to disclose to their student client, what percentage they are making, and ultimately the immigration process becomes this barrier or vehicle. I cannot think of any other industry where there are no checks and balances.

 

What Should the Role of Education Consultants Be in Canada? Should They Be Provincially/Nationally Regulated? I Argue Yes.

Overall, Canada needs to have a honest assessment of the role we would like education agents to play in our immigration system. They are inevitably a gatekeeper of institutional opportunity. They are able to expand a school’s reach into countries and communities and give them business leads. Taking a free market approach, shouldn’t schools be unrestrained in their ability to fill seats (i.e. if one is willing to pay, then why not)?

The problem at the heart of international student recruitment though is you are dealing with vulnerable populations of younger individuals, unaccustomed and unfamiliar with the laws of Canada or standard business practices. Many students come from countries where one cannot get an elite opportunity without paying up for it – relationally or financially. When someone offers an opportunity, sugarcoats it, does not disclose their full interest, this can create harm and perpetuate serious misunderstandings with the rules-based, due process laws and regulations we try to promote here and a broad. A student who is unaware of what they are getting themselves into in Canada, the true cost of tuition, and the realities of the city they are moving to – this can create further harm from a mental health aspect.

On the other hand, Canada is losing tons of money (we’re talking 10% – 25%) of a student’s first year tuition. I have also heard of arrangements that go beyond just the first year and are continuous upon enrollment. These entries are also the launching point often for other labour-based exploitation practices. A quite common practice abroad is for an educational agent to secure a seat for a client in Canada and then work with other recruiters to then find the student employment via an LMIA to transition them off studies they never wanted to attend in the first place.

It is indisputable that educational agents contribute directly to the high cost of international tuition, one that has had a major impact on student well-being, but also of their families around the world. Imagine if the 10% to 25% per student went to actually providing international students with resources – proper school counselling services, academic advisors, wellness and cultural staff to help them adapt and deal with the culture shock and emotional letdown that a new environment can bring along.

In my mind, the very least that needs to be done is professional regulation. As it is in Manitoba (although I have questions about the follow-through), all DLIs should be required to share their list of recruiters/agents publicly.

There also should be clear regulation that every agent who also performs immigration services, must also be s.91 IRPA compliant, vetted somewhere during the study permit process.

If I had it my way, similar to what is occurring with foreign workers in representative spaces, I don’t believe any one who has a contingency interest in the student obtaining a seat (i.e. student recruitment) should also be providing immigration services on that file.

Finally, I would also set a mandatorily-disclosed max cap or range for student recruitment to ensure educational agent fees do not extend to an ongoing yearly exploitation or result in the offshoring of tens of thousands of dollars per student.

There are certainly barriers to this. I understand there also may be Provincial/Federal jurisdictional issues, as most labour recruitment issues are Provincial. Many Provinces were also pressured by institutions not to require tracking or registry of student recruitment agencies.

I know such an opinion might make me extremely unpopular in student recruitment circles, but I have to think first and foremost for my clients, the students, who are often given poor advice, a pipe dream, and a major tax on their admission to Canada – with nobody watching or caring for their well-being.

My two cents on this important issue and a topic that is sure to rise to prominence in the years to come. In a future post, we will look at what other countries do to regulate this and as well explore how Manitoba is doing with their model. More to come for sure!

 

Read More »

Three Things You Likely Don’t But Should Know About How IRCC Assesses Your Study Permit Application

#1 – Your Application is Decided Using a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet

It might come as a surprise to you that IRCC utilizes the classic, but with some tech additions, software of Microsoft Excel to decide temporary resident applications.

The Officer essentially provides all the information about a client in a row with several columns (including working notes – more on this later). This allows them to process multiple applications utilizing one screen. There are also multiple clients that make up the constituent rows.

Each column within a row contains information regarding the Applicant’s name, age, purpose of visit, date of receipt of the application, citizenship of the client, and previous travel. It appears that some of this information is pre-assessed by a processing Officer, but much of it comes directly from the IMM forms.

You can see here how the pre-assessment notes show up with respect to the ‘verbose client information.’ Verbose client information appears to be information directly from the forms. This suggests that the pre-assessment plans a significant and important role in an application. While it is seemingly ‘blind’ one can see from the below that if you break it down to age, gender, marital status, and citizenship that many of the personal identifying features that can make a young, single, and mobile woman applicant from Zimbabwe difficult to make to record. The Pre-assessment also shows (based on categories selected) that previous travel and proof of funds continue to be important factors. As such, it is difficult to say if travel history is as ‘neutral’ as the Federal Courts have attempted to establish it is.

Why do they do it this way via excel? Well IRCC claims that officers can increase their processing volume (depending on visa office) anywhere from 5% to 35% using this system.

I would also not be surprised (I am speculating) if the excel-based system allowed also for real-time tracking of statistics. This way a visa office with a refusal target could likely keep track while at the same time processing applications.

 

#2 – Reasons are Templated and Generated After Refusal. They Don’t Have to Refer to Your Original Evidence (their position, not mine)

If one were to think of it logically, or perhaps engage in the exercise themselves, it would make sense to do some sort of a yay/nay list on a chart or table and ultimately decide, based on the facts gathered, whether or not to approve a client. Indeed, while not required, much of immigration (think Ribic factors or the assessment of humanitarian and compassionate grounds) often work on this weighing system.

Such is not necessarily the case with temporary resident refusals. With IRCC’s systems, a decision to refuse or approve is made first, and then a notes generator (read: template generator) is utilized to choose the applicable reasons. The Officer then copies and pastes this into Global Case Management System (GCMS).

While Officers continue to have access to the original documents submitted by applicants, much of the guidance suggests the anchoring point is the excel document – one populated by the aforementioned pre-assessed notes and verbose client information. Officers are very much deciding to approve or refuse simply on an individual’s basic profile. This suggests that whatever is chosen to be extracted from an application, rather than what is actually in the application is most important. Such guidance should serve as a reminder to keep support letters and evidence not only strong, but visible and searchable rather than tucked away on page 12 of a 15 page submission letter.

There are also ‘risk indicators’ and ‘local word flags.’ Risk indicators can capture where there is a trend, for example, of an Office submitting fraudulent information and local word flags, capture words such as ‘wedding.’ I am still researching what the other words are, but we know they depend on what visa office runs them. It would not be a surprise to see more risk indicators and local  I would not be surprised if IRCC is also running OCRs (optical character recognition) or utilizing machine-based decision-makers to flag key words. Yet, looking at the GCMS notes of several recent files, it appears risk indicators and local word flags don’t often appear. What this may suggest, is that the Officers rely more on the pre-assessment, verbose info, and their working notes to render a decision.

Which brings us to the issue of working notes below.

 

#3 Working Notes of Officers (i.e. Where the Factual Analysis Takes Place) are Not Ordinarily Retained

Templated reasons themselves do not (at this stage) need to contain reference to facts in the Application. While IRCC maintains that Officers do have the right to choose not to use them, the reality is any officer facing instructions to process fast and maintain consistency, likely won’t diverge too far from them.

When clients come and find me after a referral, I often hear from them that they believe the Officer ignored evidence or turned a blind eye to something they submitted. Turns out there is likely much more to it.

Officers do have space to maintain working notes in their system, but – and importantly, these notes are not transferred to GCMS for privacy and administrative convenience purposes. IRCC claims that if they were required to manually input Officer’s working notes it would create too much of an admin burden.

Strategically though, this is a brilliant play. If decisions were to include working notes and commentary it would open up the possibility of all sorts of litigation. Thinking back in history, it was the working notes of several Officers that led to such a departmental disaster such as Baker. 

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Vavilov also supports short, pithy reasons that maintain consistency – essentially what IRCC is trying to do with this system.

The Majority writes at paragraph 77:

[77]                          It is well established that, as a matter of procedural fairness, reasons are not required for all administrative decisions. The duty of procedural fairness in administrative law is “eminently variable”, inherently flexible and context-specific: Knight v. Indian Head School Division No. 19, [1990] 1 S.C.R. 653, at p. 682; Baker v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 817, at paras. 22-23; Moreau-Bérubé, at paras. 74‑75; Dunsmuir, at para. 79. Where a particular administrative decision-making context gives rise to a duty of procedural fairness, the specific procedural requirements that the duty imposes are determined with reference to all of the circumstances: Baker, at para. 21. In Baker, this Court set out a non-exhaustive list of factors that inform the content of the duty of procedural fairness in a particular case, one aspect of which is whether written reasons are required. Those factors include: (1) the nature of the decision being made and the process followed in making it; (2) the nature of the statutory scheme; (3) the importance of the decision to the individual or individuals affected; (4) the legitimate expectations of the person challenging the decision; and (5) the choices of procedure made by the administrative decision maker itself: Baker, at paras. 23-27; see also Congrégation des témoins de Jéhovah de St-Jérôme-Lafontaine v. Lafontaine (Village), 2004 SCC 48, [2004] 2 S.C.R. 650, at para. 5. Cases in which written reasons tend to be required include those in which the decision-making process gives the parties participatory rights, an adverse decision would have a significant impact on an individual or there is a right of appeal: Baker, at para. 43; D. J. M. Brown and the Hon. J. M. Evans, with the assistance of D. Fairlie, Judicial Review of Administrative Action in Canada (loose-leaf), vol. 3, at p. 12-54.

(emphasis added)

IRCC is in the process (the part I am not yet at the liberty to discuss as I am assisting in the litigation) of getting judicial endorsement for their choice of process. I can say that if they are successful, and given it is well-established that the impact to foreign nationals (such as students is on the low end), this could serve as a rubber stamp. Such a process would make future judicial reviews much more difficult if the Courts find that templated reasons do not need factual reference. Furthermore, refusal letters could simply that the Applicant’s evidence was insufficient and leave it to their counsel, Department of Justice, to build up a justification after the fact.

 

Caution: Expect GCMS Notes to Thin at the Detriment to Your Client’s Knowledge of the Case to Be Met

What does this all practically mean for your run of the mill temporary resident applicant. Well – expect GCMS notes to say less and less and for the bulk of the information to be retained on IRCC’s ‘internal’ system. It is also likely moving forward (and that we’ve already seen in some cases) nothing in the notes for when procedural fairness letters are sent. This will make it very difficult to respond, especially where procedural fairness letters are so broadly worded. This could make the process much less transparent and lead to many more misrepresentation finding (as just one example).

 

Bonus: A Little Gratitude

I want to thank again, my incredible colleague Zeynab Ziaie for her advocacy and supporting our efforts to learn more about the way IRCC operates. I have purposely not included anything in this piece that may be subject of our litigation and is not already publicly accessible. We may be writing more about this shortly.

Read More »

Now Offering Canadian Immigration Second Opinion Services (“#CDNIMMSOS”)

In this post, I announce that I am providing Canadian Immigration Second Opinion Services (#CDNIMMSOS). I would like you to tag this hashtag on Twitter, Facebook, or in an email to us, whenever someone in your network needs a second opinion on their immigration matter. I pledge to do provide this opinion affordably and with your (the client’s) best interests at stake, with the support of my competent legal team at Heron Law Offices.

 

First, A Bit About the Why

Over six years now in this industry, and as a Canadian immigration lawyer – and I have to admit things have changed.

When I entered practice, we were in the midst of an enforcement-minded Conservative Federal Government. I remember doing many detention reviews, Immigration Appeal Division matters, and judicial reviews. Post-Graduate Work Permit refusals were frequent and the lapse time between refusal and removals was much shorter.

Back then too, there appeared to be less chefs in the Kitchen – or at least everyone knew who the good chefs were and went to them. Nowadays, and a credit to our industry and incredible Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programs, very good young lawyers and extremely competent immigration consultants have received top notch training. The overall quality of Canadian immigration work has increased. We have also seen the entry of accounting firms, and other service providers that are able to do volume work.

Government too has carved out a much more Do-It Yourself (“DIY”) approach to immigration processing. Their new portals, centred on the user experience, will drastically change the role of immigration representatives from primary applicant shoe-filler to support (and possibly tech support worker).

I remember when Express Entry was in its infancy and applications were being rejected as incomplete, front, left, and centre. Now there are some incredible video tutorials and courses (my mentor/colleague, Mark Holthe’s just to name one).

There is also a major change coming with the new College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.  These changes will put more scrutiny on the flow through of recruitment fees. The Code of Conduct will hopefully ensure that representatives for employers are not utilizing the client as a vehicle for generating additional revenue – a process that has been at the heart of labour market exploitation.

 

There is a Risk to All This – A Less Than Competent and Non-Partial First Opinion

We have seen the explosion of online and social media driven immigration advice giving. Whether it is from an individual who navigated it successfully themselves and seeking to help others, to a growing trend now of YouTube ‘Study Permit, Statement of Purpose’ advisors, one can see both the good and the bad.

As I have said on numerous occasions, even I on occasion check in online forums (especially those that have crowd-sourced application timelines) to get a sense of what is occurring on the ground. The Pandemic has brought together incredible online advocacy efforts – for separated spouses caught in backlogs, to migrant workers seeking permanent residence, to students pushing against tuition fees and exploitation.

Everyone has an opinion it seems on immigration. Everyone who has read a few government websites or gone through it themselves – thinks of themselves as being able to help. Every lawyer/consultant who has submitted an application or two – considers themselves specialized.

The reality on the ground is it is much more complicated. The representative’s (authorized or not’s) own positionality – goals, aims, interests, financial benefit – meets up with the client’s and is ultimately in the hands of a third party, non-rational actor who constantly changes up policy.

Too often what I hear from clients who seek us out the most, are that the representative who advised them previously told them everything would be okay and that approval rates were high, provided them little transparency into what they were doing, and deflected responsibility when the file was refused.

 

Employer-Driven Processes and Left-Out Employees

Another common feedback item we have been receiving is from foreign workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (“TFWP”) and International Mobility Program (“IMP”) seeking their own immigration lawyers.

In traditional employer-driven immigration processes, especially for more established companies, it is the employer that retain the lawyer, drives the offer of employment/Labour Market Impact Assessment (“LMIA”) process, and then facilitates the work permit process.

Other than signing and authorizing the final forms, the employee often has little to do. This model worked when things were much simpler. Now, employee situations are complex and companies often have to push forward their business in ways that may leave the foreign worker on the sidelines. The pandemic – where mass temporary layoffs took place, was a prime example.

From accepting an initial offer (which may pose immigration hurdles) to getting terminated/let go/placed on leave or having to navigate a Provincial Nomination Program (“PNP”) and Bridging Open Work Permits (“BOWP”), employees must begin taking more autonomy over their immigration matters.

Having worked at Firms that acted primarily for employers, seen the way those retainers were crafted, and the type of conversations that were happening between HR and counsel, I decided for myself that I wanted to act on behalf of employees. This work primarily now is often being handled by legal clinics, but this work cannot hit the scope needed. It cannot be just the serious cases with abuse – it needs to be a widespread first step for an employee to ensure their immigration best interests are always being taken care of.

I am of the opinion that all employees on work permits, should seek independent legal advice outside of that being provided by their Employer’s counsel. The earlier this can be done – the better. Many times it may be something in the past as well – employment experience, misrepresentations, criminality, non-compliance that factors into the future. Do not wait until a refusal or employment issues arise, as you may find yourself abandoned.

Similarly it is my opinion that all employers, especially big employers, should seek to understand the foreign worker’s perspective outside of the advice given by their own counsel. That is – they should continually attend trainings and resource themselves to ensure they are compliant with immigration legislation and understand the employees perspective as well. The hard truths and realities are often what are shielded in the name of business efficiencies but are what ultimately what can severely affect a business, when relationships sour and parties threaten to report each other to relevant authorities – a common theme I have seen at my offices of late.

 

Canadian Immigration Second Opinion Services (#CDNIMMSOS)

We’re launching this project because we want to shift our services away from necessarily taking on entire initial files – such as initial study permit applications or work permit applications and instead be your second opinion person. The one who acts as a check and balance in your corner, devoid of any ulterior motives – other than to support you.

Our services won’t be popular. We never entered this work to be. We want to be the one emailing your Employer on your behalf advocating for you, the one that stops you from falling into an exploitative situation. You are likely not going to get referred by your current consultant or company’s lawyer to us. You need to seek us out, but we’ll be here waiting.

 

The Problem With Independent Legal Advice (“ILA”)

When it comes to independent legal advice, the reality is that the very referral of the file to a trusted colleague for ILA can be impartial. When I refer out files for ILA, I tell clients that they should choose their counsel independent of my recommendation.

If, for example, there was incompetence of counsel, an oversight, a misstep – it takes a certain level of true independence to pursue it on behalf of the client you are providing ILA for.

Again, going back to my earlier premise – the network of chefs in a local immigration network is quite small. Most of us respect each other’s work.

When seeking a truly independent legal opinion or a second opinion, always ask if the receiving party knows the initial party who did the application. Ethical second opinion providers will pass on a matter if they may believe their opinion could be compromised.

For example, one time a colleague and I were referred a file for a second opinion. The original counsel was one we both had on Facebook and knew was going through mental health challenges – based on their private postings. It would have been unethical and sharp practice for us to take on such a file, with this private knowledge.

On the other hand, be aware of lawyers and advisors who appear to promote a pure litigious/negligence approach without highlighting actual substantive advice for your file – especially if immigration remedy rather than punitive/financial damages are your primary need.

 

Aren’t I Paying Twice for Advice?

The short answer is: it depends. Most employers, if the process is done ethically, cover the costs of the LMIA or the Employer Compliance fee – and many will also foot the bill on the work permit application.

However, what I am proposing with providing second opinion is simply to seek a consultation at the start of your matter, to double check that your materials are being submitted correctly, and then also when any major challenges arise. The cost of a consultation early, to catch an issue, could save you thousands on the back-end if you require responding to a complex procedural fairness letter or going to Court.

 

#CDNIMMSOS – Contact Information 

We look forward to helping. Email us at info@heronlaw.ca to set up a consultation with one of our (soon-to-be) three lawyers on your Canadian immigration matter.

Read More »
About Us
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.

Let’s Get in Touch

Translate »