Immigrating to Canada is a very important decision. The process can be intimating. It is important to make sure your application has been carefully and completely prepared. To do so you must either know what the rules are or have competent and trustworthy assistance from someone who does.

Immigrants may come from any country and the rules for immigration are the same, no matter where the immigrant is from. However, how applications are processed may vary between visa posts in different country.

All immigrants (people intending to make Canada their permanent home) need to obtain an immigrant visa before they will be allowed to come into Canada (there are some exceptions to this rule, notably, those persons already in Canada who are allowed to apply for landing from within Canada based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.) In order to obtain an immigrant visa, immigrants must go through a two-step process. First, they must show that they meet the criteria of the immigrant categories under which they are applying. Second, if they are successful in doing this, they must then show they do not have significant medical problem, do not have any criminal history and are not a security risk to the peace and safety if Canada.

BUT, if immigrants are successful in passing the two-step process, the visa officer may issue an immigrant visa. We say “may” because visa officers have a great deal of discretion in deciding whether to issue an immigrant visa or not. Even if the immigrant meet all of the criteria of the category under which that are applying, the visa officer can still refuse to issue an immigrant visa if he or she forms the opinion that the immigrant is not likely to become successfully established in Canada.

On the other hand, it is also possible that in circumstances where immigrant do not meet all of the requirements of the category under which they are applying, a visa officer may issue an immigrant visa to the immigrant if he or she forms the opinion that the immigrant is likely to become successfully established in Canada.  So basically, it is a bit complexity.

Set out below is a sampling of the various inland and overseas Canadian Immigration Services that CISC offers to its clients both in Canada and abroad:

• Independent/Skilled Worker and Business Applications
• Employment Authorization Applications and Extensions
• Validations of Temporary and Permanent Offers of Employment
• Visitor Visa and Student Authorization Applications and Extensions
• Family Business Applications
• Family Class Sponsorship Applications
• Humanitarian and Compassionate Applications
• Refugee, Inquiry and Detention Hearings
• Live-in Caregiver Program Applications - Appeals before the Immigration and Refugee Board, Immigration Appeal Division