The Ripple Effect: How US Immigration Policy Impacts Canada – Raj Sharma Interviewed on Global News Calgary June 30, 2018

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The new Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program AINP Alberta Opportunities Stream and What you Need to Know

Last week, after signifying that changes were in the works at it for several months, significant changes were announced to the AINP. These changes essentially swept aside the “Employer Driven” and “Strategic Recruitment” streams replacing it with the Alberta Opportunity Stream (AOS). These changes to the AINP indicate a clear “Alberta first” attitude. If you

Annulment and Divorce and When to Use One over the Other

The following is a post by Faraz Bawa; Mr. Bawa’s practice includes family law and he has used annulments in the past to address immigration issues for foreign nationals that cannot obtain a divorce from their country of origin/former residence. Annulments are often misunderstood in addressing marital and immigration law problems. Instead of ending an

Discussing the Growing Crisis for Canada’s Immigration System: Firm founder Raj Sharma interviewed by Danielle Smith on AM770 on April 17 2018

Danielle Smith: You can’t say that we don’t actually have a handle on our borders at the same time as we respect the rule of law, and are ignoring the safe third country agreement. You can’t. They’re usually opposed. You’ve got to make a choice about what you’re going to do. Are you going to

Misrepresentation – You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em

You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, Know when to walk away and know when to run. – Don Schlitz, The Gambler A certain (but incalculable) percentage of immigrants have committed misrepresentation to come to Canada. Misrepresentation, as with many aspects of life, is a spectrum, but broadly defined

The End of #TPS for El Salvadoran Nationals Living in the US – Should They Come to Canada?

The Trump Administration has ended TPS for the 200,000 plus individuals from El Salvador. Will they come to Canada and follow in the footsteps of the thousands of Haitians that crossed the border last year? My interview with Danielle Smith this last week:        Danielle Smith: Let’s talk about another influence that the

The End of TPS for Haitians in the US and What it Means for Canada – Interview with Danielle Smith November 21 2017

Danielle Smith:                  I want to get into this issue, now that we’ve seen more development in the US on the Haitian Temporary Protected Status now being revoked finally, for the final time, so they say. This was supposed to be the final time, given six months, and now it’s been … or, when he extended

The Ten Commandments of Winning A Refugee Claim

As former Refugee Protection Officers and now in private practice with a busy refugee practice, and now of course with the dramatic increase in in-Canada refugee claims, we know, more than most that there’s no such thing as a sure thing in refugee hearings. Firm founder Bjorn Harsanyi, presented this paper to the CBA National

Firm Founder Raj Sharma Discusses Canada’s Commitment to Increasing Immigration Levels on CTV – Alberta Primetime

My thoughts -in an interview with CTV Alberta Primetime on Canada’s commitment to increasing immigration levels over the next three years. Transcript Shawna Randolph: Canadian government plans to roll out the welcome mat to nearly 1,000,000 new immigrants by the end of 2020. It hopes to attract 1% of its population in three years. Michael

Immigration Appeals – Dealing with a Shortfall in Meeting the Minimum Necessary Income Requirements – What you Need to Know

    After submitting an application to sponsor family overseas, sponsors are sometimes confronted with refusals based on a shortfall in meeting the MNI or minimum necessary income (currently defined as the LICO or low income cut-off plus 30%). There is a right of appeal against such decisions -as long as the sponsor has indicated in their

Changes to the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP)

FYI : AINP is changing in Jan 2018 – see below and attached link for details of new Opportunity stream. Good news is that NOC D jobs are being accepted (as long as they are not listed on ineligible occupation list) and AINP is opening up to Express Entry.  However, all applicants will now need

Firm Founder Interviewed by Danielle Smith AM770 on Border Crossing Crisis – August 2017

Danielle Smith:                  This next topic. Before anybody says that I’m catering to the racists and bigots out there, I want you to know that you’re talking about the majority of Canadians. If you’re talking about the majority of Canadians who feel this way, then there’s going to be, in these poll results I’m about to

SSHLaw Founder and Partner Bjorn Harsanyi on Generalized Risk and Gang Violence Presented at CARL in 2014

Generalized Risk and Gang Violence The protection afforded to a claimant under paragraph 97(1)(b) of IRPA must be personal and not one faced generally by others in the country. The million dollar question in the last number of years is what is meant by personal risk, and how have the courts defined it in recent

Appearance at the (Parliamentary) Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration

It was a pleasure and an honour for our managing partner, Mr. Raj Sharma, to be invited and appear before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration with respect to its study on Immigration Consultants. Mr. Sharma’s opening  statement (as of that of Lorne Waldman) can be found here. There were a number of questions

Changes to Canada’s Citizenship Laws

The Senate has sent Bill C-6 with some amendments back to the House; we anticipate passage into law later this year. The following constitutes a summary of the anticipated law:

The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) is (Not) a Terrorist Organization

Immigration authorities made the allegation that my client (a young man, a foreign national in Canada) was inadmissible under paragraph 34(1)(f) of the IRPA – that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) (of which he is a member) is an organization that has engaged in the subversion by force of the Bangladeshi government and has engaged

My Kingdom for a Study Permit

We recently successfully obtained study permits for two students from the Middle East. One hailed from a country listed on the United States travel ban list while the other country is undergoing political turmoil and violence and our client is an ethnic minority in this country. Of course we prepared the files appropriately. Where we

The Residency Appeal

I was recently at the Immigration Appeal Division to deal with a negative residency determination made against my client. I wanted to provide an overview regarding the residency appeal procedure. After the appellant files an appeal against a negative residency appeal with the IRB they receive the Appeal Record. The hearing is then scheduled. In such

Much Ado About Nothing – Refugees and Mass Hysteria

The refugees are coming! The refugees are coming !Even after we exercised our moral authority to specifically help the Syrians by thousands, the refugees keep coming! They are now not even passively waiting for deportation or unfair treatment by the American authorities or danger and risk in their home countries, they are proactively taking their

Interview: Alberta Primetime on Islamophobia and Canada’s Refugee Resettlement Efforts

Earlier this month, firm founder Raj Sharma was interviewed on Alberta Primetime this week. A partial transcript of that interview follows. … Michael Higgins: Mustafa, it didn’t take long for news of the ban to spread, but it also didn’t take long for the rhetoric to begin flowing. What’s your view on how Canadians are