The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act came into force in 2002 and replaced the Immigration Act which was the legislation governing immigration to Canada since 1978. The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada wields considerable power to regulate the immigration laws in Canada. This means that the Minister can make significant changes without having to run those changes by Parliament. Not only can the Minister change Regulations, but he can also issue instructions with respect to the processing of applications for permanent residence.

The lawyers at Stewart Sharma Harsanyi conduct the most number of immigration hearings, appeals and immigration Federal Court hearings in Alberta. Put our expertise to work for you.

As former Refugee Protection Officers, the Partners at this office have conducted hundreds of refugee hearings. We regularly appear before the Federal Court of Canada. The IRPA requires that a permanent resident maintain residency in Canada. Under the IRPA, a permanent resident needs to be in Canada for 730 days out of 5 year period (there are exemptions, including accompanying a Canadian spouse abroad).

We have conducted presentations and seminars with respect to criminal inadmissibility: there is no appeal for inadmissibility for anyone convicted and sentenced to more than 6 months or more in a criminal matter but there may still be way for you to stay in Canada.

We handle spousal sponsorship appeals as well as dealing with the breach to the residency requirement and are frequently at the Immigration Appeal Division.

The other major immigration law in Canada is the Citizenship Act and proposed changes increase the residency and language requirement to apply. Processing times have markedly increased for citizenship applications, with many applicants receiving `Residency Questionnaires` in an apparent effort to crackdown on residency fraud.

This Minister has introduced a number of new laws that impact on permanent residents, citizens, foreign nationals and refugees. These immigration laws include: