We at Niren and Associates Immigration Lawyers wish all our clients and friends a Happy Canada Day.

For many of you, Canada Day is a special holiday as Canada is your new adopted home. Immigrants from around the world have chosen and continue to choose Canada as a destination to live, work and study. Our law firm is proud to have played a small part in helping individuals, families and businesses come to Canada by processing their Canada Visa applications. We are honored that so many of you have trusted us as partners in bringing you and your families to Canada. We promise to continue our commitment to our clients to get the best possible results for them for all their immigration and visa needs.

Enjoy the day!

As reported by Torstar News, government documents reveal that just under 50% of spousal sponsorship applications are refused from certain regions  such as southern China, Western Africa. In other areas refusal rates are also unacceptably high.

MP Olivia Chow calls this high refusal rate “cruel and arbitrary”. I cannot agree more.  At our office, we see and handle an increasing number of spousal sponsorship refusals. Of course, some of these rejected applications are indeed justified where there is a clear “marriage of convenience” between the parties.  However, in many cases, there is no reason for such refusals. Spouses who have been separated in some cases, for many months or years are bewildered by these refusals and are faced with further delays in being united as they must appeal these decisions to the Immigration Adjudication Division (IAD).

We have found that the while there are no guarantees for sponsorship approvals, making sure your application is very well documented goes a long way towards reducing your risk of rejection. Knowing that your relationship with your spouse or partner is legitimate and genuine is not enough to ensure a positive result for your sponsorship application. Visa Officers, these days, appear to assume the worst and you have to go the extra mile in terms of preparation to overcome their  suspicions.

We have written about immigration application refusals in a previous blog here.  And if your sponsorship or any other immigration application was refused, it is important to take decisive and timely action to secure your rights to appeal.

I was denied entry to the US over 5 yrs ago due to a criminal record. I now find that I have to fly to St. Maarten in August and there are no direct flights. I will therefore  have a short layover in the US. Is it possible to get special permission at the point of entry? My conviction was 7 years ago. It was for theft and fraud under 5000. Please help

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Even if you are just entering the US on a layover, you will require a US Waiver or Humanitarian Parole (for urgent admissions) if you are inadmissible to the US. Without knowing more details of your conviction, it is hard to determine if you are inadmissible to the US. It may be that you fall under what is known as the Petty Offense Exception in which case your conviction will not render you inadmissible to the US and you can take that flight. Otherwise you will need a US Waiver.

Dear Mary ,

I have just returned from  the interview with Immigration Canada , and as you said it just a formality.  No questions asked and just had to sign on the “dotted line” . I am now a Canadian permanent resident!  The official papers are to follow in a few weeks time.

So thank you very much for all your help with the spousal sponsorship application and if I need any sort of help in the future I will certainly contact you.

Many thanks again .

Desmond

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney today welcomed Olympic hopeful Kaitlyn Weaver as a Canadian citizen at a ceremony in Kitchener, Ontario.  “On behalf of the Government of Canada, I am proud to welcome Kaitlyn Weaver as a Canadian,” Minister Kenney said. “Our citizenship is one of the most valuable things we can possess. Ms Weaver has made, and will continue to make, an exceptional contribution to Canada, and I am very pleased to be able to honour her commitment.”

The Citizenship Act contains a special provision that allows the Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister, to reward services of an exceptional value to Canada by issuing a grant of citizenship.

Kaitlyn Weaver (born April 12, 1989 in Houston, Texas and living in Canada since 2006) is an American ice dancer who currently represents Canada internationally. With partner Andrew Poje, she is the 2008 Canadian national silver medalist and 2007 World Junior bronze medalist.

Weaver will now be eligible to represent Canada at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, 2010.

If I was doing consulting work for a US client and the work was done from Canada, is a TN visa required? I may never cross into the US to do the work. It can all be done remotely from Canada.

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TN Visas like all US Work Permits are necessary if you intend to do work from within the USA. If as you describe, your consultant work will be conducted outside of the US, you would not need to apply for a TN Visa or any US Work Visas. However, if you find that you need to enter the US to service your US client and what you will be doing with be beyond just attending business meetings, negotiating contracts etc.(which are what we describe as standard B-1 Visa activities for which you do not require a Work Permit), you may have to apply for a US Work Permit. Often such scenarios are not so “black and white”.

Therefore before entering into a business arrangement with a US Employer or US Client, make sure what are the specific duties you will be performing from within the US, if any, before going ahead. You may find that you do in fact need a TN Visa or another type of US work permit first.