Canadian Immigration Podcast

In this Episode of the CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com we discuss the upcoming changes to the Express Entry regime which become effective on November 19, 2016: New definition of offer of arranged employment and new categories of workers who can now benefit from having a qualified offer of arranged employment for the purposes of express entry No more 600 points for LMIA supported offer of arranged employed New point structure for offers of arranged employment depending on skill level New point structure for those with an eligible Canadian Educational Credential What these changes will mean in terms of the number of points required to be selected What these changes will mean for International Students and Post-Graduate Work Permit holders What these changes will mean for NAFTA Professionals, Intra-Company Transferees, and other foreign workers employed on certain LMIA exempt work permits My guest was Tamara Mosher-Kucze, an associate at Capelle Kane Immigration Lawyers who practices exclusively in the area of

In this Special Episode Besty Kane and I, Mark Holthe, take time to share some great ways in which US Citizens can move to Canada either temporarily or permanent while waiting out the next 4 years under a President Trump term.  Strategies covered: Working in Canada NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement (while it lasts): Professionals Marijuana Professionals IT Professionals Engineers, architects, hotel managers etc. Intra-Company Transferees Reciprocal Work Permits Investors: Dentists, Orthodontists, other investors Advantages for Mexican Citizens looking to come to Canada TRV being lifted in near future Francphone program Studying in Canada Can work while going to school Open Work permit for up to 3 years after graduation and pathway to permanent resident status if desired Permanent Resident Options: Self Employed: Actors, Musicians and other artists Express Entry (skilled workers with high human capital factors) Family Sponsorship: Spousal Sponsorship (In-Canada) or outside mar

CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com Mark Holthe: I'm here with my good friend and colleague, Raj Sharma. Raj, thanks for joining me. Raj Sharma: My pleasure. Mark Holthe: We're testing this out with our digital recorder here. I usually do these interviews via Skype call, but I've got high hopes that the audio is going to be great regardless. Thanks for putting up with me, Raj, and happy to have you with us. Today, Raj has agreed to come in and talk a little bit about criminal inadmissibility and some of the consequences that can flow when people get themselves into trouble here in Canada, but before we get into that I want to take a moment to share a little bit of background on Raj, and where he's come from professionally, and where he's at. Raj Sharma's a lawyer and founding partner of Stewart Sharma Harsanyi, one of Western Canada's largest dedicated immigration law firms. He received his masters of law from Osgoode Hall and is a former refugee protection officer with the Immigration and Refugee Board. Now, I'll

CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com Season 1 Episode 31 Have you ever experienced a refusal on your LMIA application because your advertising did not meet the rigid content requirements set out on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program website? If so, you are not going to want to miss the recent interview I did with Canadian Immigration Lawyer, Robert Leong. Robert shared some great insight on his Federal Court case challenging an officer's refusal of his client's LMIA application because the business address was missing from one of the advertisements. We definitely need more decisions like this. Many of us lawyers remember the good old days when obtaining a Labour Market Opinion (now Labour Market Impact Assessment) for a client was a relatively pleasant and straightforward exercise. After conducting recruitment efforts and not locating a qualified candidate, the LMO would be approved. In fact, Service Canada officers would actually work with employers to assist them in ensuring the forms were properly completed so

I Invited Virgil Grandfield to join me today to talk about an article he wrote about slave labour trafficking by Red Cross Tsunami Contractors in Indonesia following the reconstruction efforts following the Tsunami of 2004 that killed approximately 228,000 people.  Virgil’s article “The Cage” published in Eighteen Bridges as "Are you ready to die?", an Alberta literary magazine was recently awarded a gold medal for investigative journalism by the National Magazine Awards Foundation.  Tell us a little bit about yourself.  How did you get into journalism?  Remind our listeners about the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. Tell us about your involvement with the Red Cross effort after the Tsunami  Share some background on the labour trafficking scandal Talk a little bit about the families affected by the scandal and your article, “The Cage” which received the journalism award.  Tell us about some of your other projects that we should watch out for: Full-length book on the scandal CBC Television Documentar

Podcast Show Notes - CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com S1 E29 – Ronalee Carey – Private Sponsorship of Refugees My Bio – Ronalee Carey is an immigration and refugee lawyer who practices in the beautiful capital of Canada - Ottawa, Ontario.  Her practice focuses on finding immigration solutions for individuals and families through family sponsorships, the Express Entry program and provincial nomination programs.  She assists with visa applications to visit, study or work in Canada, and helps those with criminal inadmissibility issues. Part of Ronalee’s practice includes refugee work.  She assists individuals who have arrived in Canada who wish to claim refugee status.  She also provides pro bono assistance to a group in Ottawa who are privately sponsoring refugees from abroad. Question: How did you find yourself in the immigration field?  Since I was a young child, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer, but immigration law was never something I’d thought about.  I grew up in a small town in northern Ontario were we had

CIP S1E28 | Steven Meurrens. http://wp.me/p6wMQg-nq Introduction: Welcome to Steven Meurrens. Well respected immigration lawyer practicing with the law firm of Larlee Rosenberg in Vancouver, British Columbia. The firm focuses on all areas of Canadian immigration law. Advising local and multinational corporations on the movement of key employees, and individuals and families who dream of building a future in Canada. Steven is a Partner in the firm with significant experience representing corporate and individual clients in obtaining visas and permits for many business-related purposes. In addition to his business immigration practice, Steven has extensive experience in family-based immigration matters AND a very active practice assisting people who have been denied entry to Canada and to those whom have had visa applications refused. He has appeared before the Immigration and Refugee Board and the Federal Court. Steven is the Chair of the Canadian Bar Association of British Columbia’s Immigration Subsection. H

CIP S1 E27 | Les Morley | Show Notes http://www.canadianimmigrationpodcast.com Les is an immigration lawyer practicing in Kingston, Ontario. Since 1988, he has helped people from more than 100 countries immigrate to or remain in Canada. He has reunited families, guided students and workers through the process of obtaining papers, and represented everyday people who face admissibility challenges and barriers to citizenship. Les is a part of a small group of people that applied for and obtained a Refugee Assistance Program facility in Kingston.  He is the only immigration lawyer in his one-horse town, and so he tends to get involved in a lot of the immigration-related projects in town. Similar to Lethbridge where I practice. Also, this year he has hosted a few episode of a local cable show on COGECOTV (Kingston)  called DiverseCity.  Here are links to a few of the episodes, in case there is any value in knowing about them: Fresh Start for Refugees Frontenac Refugee Support Group Kingston Grandmother Connec

CIP S1E26 – Will Tao – Life as a Young Immigration Lawyer http://www.canadianimmigrationpodcast.com/life-as-a-canadi…er-is-it-for-you/ Will Tao Canadian Immigration Lawyer, practicing with the well respected law firm of Larlee Rosenberg in Vancouver, BC.  We are going to do things a little bit different this podcast.  The purpose behind this podcast is to inspire other young lawyers to consider the practice of immigration law.  In per conversations with Will, he told me about an experience he had speaking with a well-known Bay Street lawyer before he began searching for summer jobs and she pegged it at a 0% chance that he could do immigration before five years call. Will Tao is an Associate at Larlee Rosenberg and provides legal services in all areas of Canadian immigration law.  Will specializes in complex immigration and citizenship refusals, reconsideration requests, appeals, admissibility hearings/detention reviews, and judicial reviews of administrative decisions. Will is frequently contacted by clients

CIP S1 E25 – Alastair Clarke | MB PNP | Show Notes Alastair Clarke Immigration lawyer practicing in the Province of Manitoba located in the heart of Canada. Manitoba is clearly the second best province in Canada. I lived there with my wife and two kids while I was attending law school at the University Manitoba.  My whole career got its start at Robson Hall. Welcome Alastair  thanks for joining us. Why don’t I start off by telling our listeners a little bit about you? Alastair was born and raised in Edmonton, Canada. He has worked and lived in more than 20 cities around the world including Winnipeg (current home), Toronto (Canada), Montreal (Canada), Kingston (Canada), Victoria (Canada), Vancouver (Canada), New York City (USA), Washington, DC (USA), Tokyo (Japan), Esmeraldas (Ecuador), Brussels (Belgium), Herstmonceux (UK) and Bordeaux (France). Alastair provides legal services in English, French, Spanish and Japanese. Alastair Clarke: Legal Experience Alastair began working with immigration issues as a stude

CIP Season 1 Episode 24 Show Notes – Elizabeth Wozniak, Immigration Lawyer - Communicating with Canadian immigration authorities Liz Wozniak is the owner of North Star Immigration Law Inc., the largest Canadian immigration law firm in the Maritimes. Liz leads a team of four lawyers and one articled clerk in providing legal services and creative solutions in all aspects of Canadian immigration law.  Liz and her team work in a collaborative environment where only lawyers work on client files and they only charge flat rates. Liz is originally from Edmonton, Alberta and lived overseas for 5 years (in China and Korea), where she taught English after getting a degree in education from the University of Alberta. She graduated from law school in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2001 where she remains as a lawyer and lives with her spouse and two children.   Liz is frequently consulted by journalists, government and non-governmental organizations on matters pertaining to immigration law and policy. She regularly presents at co

CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com CIP S1 E23: Podcast Show Notes – Russ Weninger- Temporary Foreign Worker Program Review – What does the future hold? Russ Weninger is a Canadian Immigration Lawyer with an extensive knowledge for the low skill, low-wage TFWs and how to navigate the Immigration System. Russ' enjoys volunteering for several organizations such as, The Calgary Legal Guidance, The Center for New Commerce, The Genesis Center, Law Day and the Kirby Center.   In this episode of the Canadian immigration podcast we discussed the changes and issues within the low skill, low-wage workers and the temporary foreign worker program. Some of the specific areas covered include: LMIA seems to be an impossible quest. Cap on percentage of low-wage workers Challenges and abuse incidences of those in the TFWP Pathways to permanent residence The purpose of Immigration In order to help you jump to the areas of most interest to you, I have included below some time stamps for some of the significant topics covered in th

CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com CIP S1 E22: Podcast Show Notes – Betsy Kane- Employer Compliance Reviews Betsy Kane is a senior practitioner in the field of Canadian immigration law with a reputation for providing practical and strategic advice. With over 22 years of experience, Betsy’s strengths lie in offering corporate immigration representation to employers and international employees In this episode of the Canadian immigration podcast we discussed the Foreign Worker Program and Employer Compliance Review and some of the struggles with the process. If you are an employer or representative the unique perspective that Betsy offers is extremely useful. Some of the specific areas covered include: Employer Compliance Review process What is it like for an employer to go through an ECR Strategies for navigating the process and tips Documentation to be kept during the process Voluntary Disclosure In order to help you jump to the areas of most interest to you, I have included below some timestamps for some of the

CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com CIP S1 E21: Podcast Show Notes – Dani Willets- Study Permits  Dani was with the Department of Citizenship and Immigration for 25 years. She was originally hired as an Immigration Officer, but in the 10 years prior to retiring from the department was primarily an immigration supervisor. She has extensive experience in every inland immigration program and several overseas programs. In this episode of the Canadian immigration podcast we discussed Study Permits and some common areas of problem. If you are an individual or representative the unique perspective that Dani offers is extremely useful. Some of the specific areas covered include: Common Problem Areas Proof of Financial Support Assessing Bona Fides Red Flag Areas Interviews In order to help you jump to the areas of most interest to you, I have included below some timestamps for some of the significant topic covered in this episode. 2:59  - Who is Dani Willets? 11:29 - Basic Statstics  15:40 – Common Problem Areas 20:21 – 

CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com Season 1 Episode 20: Podcast Show Notes – Marina Sedai- Express Entry  Marina Sedai  has practiced immigration and citizenship law for the last 11 years. She holds a bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Political Science/International Relations and Psychology from Simon Fraser University. Marina is the founder of Sedai Law Offices, and has been a frequent public speaker and taught immigration law, policy, and procedure at the UBC immigration practitioner’s program  from 2010-2014.  In this episode of the Canadian immigration podcast we discussed the Express Entry Portal and the technical glitches. If you are an individual or representative the tips and tricks that Marina talks about, will help in using the portal without complication and frustration.  Some of the specific areas covered include: Whether or not the CRS points are going to drop. The linking and de-linking of individuals and representatives. How to update your profile and application.  Why the portal is now asking fo

CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com CIP S1 E19: Podcast Show Notes – Jeffrey Lowe - PLMIA  Jeffrey S. Lowe  has practiced immigration and business law in British Columbia since 1983.  He holds a bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia, and is considered an innovator in the convergence of business, technology and law.  Jeffrey is the Chief Inspirational Officer of Lowe and Company, and has taught immigration law, practice management and legal ethics to lawyers across Canada since 1990.  In this episode of the Canadian immigration podcast we discussed the Owner Operator LMIA. If you’ve not yet heard about this LMIA category, don’t worry about it.  Jeffrey does a fantastic job of setting out the ground rules, and explaining to you some unbelievably creative and unique ways to use this LMIA category to help your clients immigrate to Canada.  Some of the specific areas covered include: What is an LMIA? What is the basis for the Owner Operator LMIA? Practical Tips on Applying

CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com CIP S1 E18 – Rekha McNutt – Show Notes Welcome Rekha to the Podcast Rekha practices primarily in immigration law.   She has extensive experience with temporary resident visas, express entry, federal skilled workers, Canadian experience class, Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, family class sponsorships, refugee claims, pre-removal risk assessments, and in-Canada humanitarian and compassionate permanent residence applications. Rekha had appeared before the Alberta Provincial Court and the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta.  She has also appeared extensively before the Federal Court of Canada and Immigration Tribunals such as the Immigration Division, Refugee Protection Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division. Rekha is currently the Chair of the Southern Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, Immigration Section.  She is an avid motor cycling enthusiast: Introduction of You  Background information and how you got into immigration  Introduction of Topic - What t

CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com CIP S1 E17: Interview with Ravi Jain – Show Notes Pleasure of having Ravi Jain – join me on the Podcast today.  Welcome Ravi  Introduction:  Ravi is an immigration lawyer practicing in Toronto, Canada with the law firm of Green and Spiegel LLP (Partner) He is among the small percentage of immigration lawyers who are certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as Specialists in Citizenship and Immigration Law.  He has addressed the Canadian Senate as an expert witness on immigration law and appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights.  On November 27, 2012 Ravi was presented the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by Command of Her Majesty The Queen in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of Her Majesty’s Accession to the Throne and in recognition of Ravi’s significant contributions to Canada.  Ravi practices all aspects of Canadian Immigration law:  PR – spousals sponsorships , H&Cs PNPs, Express Entry TR – WP, SP, TRVs, PRRAs, TRPs Ex

Canadian immigration podcast – Season 1 Episode 16 Show Notes This episode of the Canadian immigration podcast is going to be a little different.  It’s going to be a little shorter the normal because instead of having to guests join me today I am going to share with you a little teaser as to what is coming up in the coming weeks and months.  I’m going to start off with a little bit of an explanation as to where the podcast is going to be headed in the future. After really evaluating what I want to accomplish with the podcast, I received a little inspiration as too what I should really do with it. So I’m going to share with you some of those thoughts Then I’m going to give you a little sneak peek into the  line up of guests that I have scheduled in the coming weeks.  These are truly heavy hitters within the immigration bar in Canada and they are totally committed to bringing their A game.  I have always felt that there was no purpose in having a podcast unless it was totally awesome. My goal has always been to

S1 E15: Detailed Show Notes found here: http://www.canadianimmigrationpodcast.com In this Podcast I interview Chris Veeman an immigration lawyer from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan who sheds some light on the ever changing world of Canadian Citizenship.  Chris is on the Canadian Bar Association's National Executive and has appeared as a witness before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on several occasions, including matters related to changes to the Citizenship Act.  Chris shares some great insight on citizenship that you won't want to miss... especially if you are a permanent resident of Canada getting ready to apply for Canadian citizenship. Things are tough now, but there is significant light at the end of the tunnel.