12 episodes

From the publisher that brought you the Immigration Law Series, Emond Publishing presents Welcome Home: An Immigration Law podcast. Hosts Chantal Desloges and Cathryn Sawicki examine the current state of Canadian immigration law, breaking down policy, practice, procedure, and recent immigration cases from across Canada. Explicit content rating due to coarse language.

Welcome Home: An Immigration Law Podcast Emond Publishing

    • Government
    • 5.0 • 1 Rating

From the publisher that brought you the Immigration Law Series, Emond Publishing presents Welcome Home: An Immigration Law podcast. Hosts Chantal Desloges and Cathryn Sawicki examine the current state of Canadian immigration law, breaking down policy, practice, procedure, and recent immigration cases from across Canada. Explicit content rating due to coarse language.

    Making Connections South of the Border, with Erick Widman

    Making Connections South of the Border, with Erick Widman

    Has the US immigration system earned its negative reputation and is Canada’s immigration system as welcoming as we think it is?

    In this episode Chantal and Cathryn sit down with Erick Widman to discuss United States’ immigration pathways and their unique barriers, including the "H1B Cap,” spousal sponsorship restrictions, filing fees, permanent residence country caps, and waiver requests.  

    How does the uncertainty, wait times, and expenses generated by these barriers affect the United States in the global talent and investment competitions? Many companies today are transnational and if there is no clear pathway to permanent residency, immigrants and companies will go elsewhere. 

    Many believe the US immigration system is tougher than the Canadian system, but Canada in some ways rolls up our welcome mat too. Listen to Chantal, Cathryn, and Erick unpack the US and Canada’s surprisingly dissimilar stances on criminal inadmissibility.  

    Other topics include: 


    Marijuana and US immigration. 
    The politicization of legal immigrants vs. refugees. 
    US immigration reform 
    Travel during application processes 
    Humanitarian parole 
    Inter-company transfer visas 

    As an immigration practitioner, have you ever felt like you needed an entire workday just to go through your inbox? Instead of feeling overwhelmed, follow Chantal and Cathryn’s tailored time-management tips for immigration practitioners. In this segment of “Things I Wish I Knew,” Chantal and Cathryn discuss, utilizing outlook, managing client expectations concerning communication, farming out work when it is not your speciality, and more.  

    Special Guest: Erick Widman, former expat, US immigration lawyer, and founder of Passage Immigration Law in Portland, Oregon. Erick’s firm specializes in both immigration and business Law, helping his clients to live globally and navigate the US immigration processes.

    • 49 min
    How Artificial Intelligence is Influencing the Canadian Immigration Application Process

    How Artificial Intelligence is Influencing the Canadian Immigration Application Process

    What degree of transparency should we expect from a government body that leverages AI to expedite processes that have a life-changing impact on thousands of people each year? 

    The IRCC has introduced the use of artificial intelligence to expedite the processing of immigration applications, with assurances that AI does not have the power to determine or influence the outcome of applications. However, the details of its usage are opaque, and many questions remain unanswered – what exactly is the scope of AI’s current and future contributions? Who are the architects behind its intellect? What rules and information has it been fed?  

    In this episode, Mario Bellissimo, Cathryn, and Chantal unpack the risks and possibilities of artificial intelligence as a tool to enhance – or undermine – the effectiveness of our immigration system. While AI offers promising improvements to a system that has been criticized for being slow, inefficient, and “broken,” it also has the potential to create new problems that come at a high cost and take decades to resolve. How can we be certain that AI is not perpetuating hidden biases or introducing new biases through its assessments? What digital privacy protections have been established, if any? Have safeguards been put in place to limit the scope of AI usage and to ensure human oversight?  

    Other topics include: 


    Paving the way for AI's transformational impact through robust legislative and regulatory measures 
    Other countries that we can look to as examples of how to successfully integrate AI 
    Embracing transparency and open dialogue in this new era of AI-supported government processes 

    In this segment of “Things I Wish I Knew,” what can you do when the volume and complexity of work required for a client expands beyond the scope of the original retainer? Instead of doing too much work for too little money, follow Chantal and Cathryn’s tips for crafting a retainer agreement that will protect you while ensuring clear and open communication with your client. 

    Special Guest: Mario Bellissimo, founder of Bellissimo Law Group PC and former Chair of the Canadian Bar Association National Immigration Law Section. Mario's firm is exclusively committed to Canadian citizenship, immigration, and refugee matters, and represents clients from around the world at every stage of the immigration process.

    • 51 min
    Economic Immigration: The NOC, Work Permits, and Express Entry

    Economic Immigration: The NOC, Work Permits, and Express Entry

    Immigrants make up over 25% of our population and form a critical component of Canada’s workforce. Under Canada’s new immigration plan, we hope to welcome 500,000 new immigrants per year. This could be a tall order as the inherently political nature of Canadian immigration law means frequent and far-reaching policy changes, often made with little to no warning. How can practitioners deal with this lack of legal continuity and help Canada welcome 1.5 million immigrants?

    In this episode, Chantal and Cathryn sit down with Andrew Carvajal to discuss the current state of Canada’s economic immigration policy, including the National Occupation Classification’s new TEER system, occupation-specific draws, work permit applications, and more. Will CRS scores continue to fall? What can you do when your client doesn’t meet the education requirement? Will the government favour healthcare workers in express entry draws? The recent extension of COVID-era policy means visitors can continue to apply for work permits inside Canada, but does this mean that they should?
     
    Other topics include: 


    Subspecializing in immigration law. 
    Post-grad work permits. 
    Canada’s caregiver application process. 

    Many lawyers opening up their own practice don’t have a business degree but find themselves at the wheel of one of the most complicated small businesses to run. In this segment of “Things I Wish I Knew,” Chantal and Cathryn offer practical guidance on taking your firm to the next level.

    Special Guest: Andrew Carvajal, Head of Economic Immigration and Leader of the Latin America (LATAM) group at Desloges Carvajal Law Group in Toronto. Andrew’s practice focuses on all types of business immigration, including work permits, LMIA applications, start-up visas, study permits, visitor visas, citizenship applications, and more.

    • 53 min
    What Do Clients Look for in a Lawyer?

    What Do Clients Look for in a Lawyer?

    Has a client ever mentioned why they chose you? Have you ever asked? If you had to guess what matters most to your clients when selecting a legal representative, what do you imagine their answer would be?

    In this episode, Chantal and Cathryn explore a client’s perspective and learn about the surprising things that matter most to a client seeking representation in an immigration law case. They interview two Jane Does, anonymous clients who discuss their processes for selecting a lawyer/consultant, describe the behaviours that would immediately disqualify someone, and share their expectations regarding truthfulness, responsiveness, and empathy. If you thought an untarnished track record of success was the most important thing you could advertise to a potential client, think again – it may be time to brush up on your "bedside manner" instead.

    Other topics include:

    Cultivating an authentic connection with your clients and the role of honesty from both sides – keeping in mind the timeless wisdom of “under-promise and over-deliver."

    The importance of empathy when dealing with cases that have life-changing implications for your clients – and how to deliver bad news in the kindest way possible.

    A personal story of how Jane Doe dealt with the threat of deportation and how one person made the eventual experience of deportation more tolerable for her.

    What should you do when faced with an area of law that you are unfamiliar with? In this segment of “What I Wish I Knew,” Chantal and Cathryn offer their insights into navigating this tricky situation.

    • 1 hr 12 min
    An Interview With Pantea Jafari

    An Interview With Pantea Jafari

    Unlimited intake quotas, limited processing targets, inaccurate processing times, and resource constraints all contribute to the massive and seemingly perpetual IRCC backlog. With many cases dragging on for years and being unfairly dismissed or refused, should group litigation be considered to protect applicants' right to procedural fairness and legitimate expectations?

    On this episode, we welcome esteemed immigration counsel Pantea Jafari to discuss her federal court case, Tafreshi v. Canada. In 2022, Pantea won a group litigation case involving a backlog of visa applications—most notably from Iranian applicants—unfairly dismissed under the Self-Employed Class.
    Other topics include:


    Tips and tricks for preparing IRCC documentation: litigating vs. re-applying.
    Mentorship in the immigration law community.
    Managing your caseload.

    Have you ever had a client that was over-involved, vengeful, or unresponsive? In this segment of “What I Wish I Knew,” Chantal and Cathryn offer their seasoned strategies for dealing with difficult clients.
    Special Guest: Pantea Jafari is a founding partner and lead counsel at Jafari Law in Toronto and Halifax. Her expertise spans the entire spectrum of immigration law, and she represents clients in all related matters. Pantea serves on the executive committee of the Ontario Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section and the board of the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association.

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Legal Intersections: Family Law and Immigration Law

    Legal Intersections: Family Law and Immigration Law

    An individual can only make ONE refugee claim per lifetime. Every year, thousands of individuals flee to Canada and exercise their one and only opportunity to make a refugee claim. Many of these refugee claims are from individuals escaping domestic violence with their children.
     
    In this episode, Chantal and Cathryn sit down with immigration and refugee lawyer Cheryl Robinson to discuss the intersection of refugee law and family law. How can you identify a refugee claim with an issue of exclusion and what are the next steps? Cheryl sheds light on her experience managing these claims and preparing clients for these specialized cases. Learn about trauma-informed lawyering, severed claims, cross examination, evidence application at the RPD, unsolicited evidence, language barriers, and more in the context of refugee claims with exclusion issues.
     
    Given the emotional toll and high-risk nature of refugee law, how can practitioners define and maintain professional boundaries with clients? In this segment of “Tales from the Trenches,” Chantal and Cathryn share moments from their careers where a lack of boundaries impeded their professional abilities and offer advice on drawing these lines appropriately.
     
    View the Immigration and Refugee Board’s 2022 revision of Chairperson’s Guideline 4 at https://irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/legal-policy/policies/Pages/GuideDir04.aspx
     
    Special Guest: Cheryl Robinson is a staff lawyer with the Refugee Law Office of Legal Aid Ontario, specializing in immigration and refugee law. She has argued before all levels of the IRB and the Federal Court and was lead counsel on the FCA case Huruglica v. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

    • 1 hr 3 min

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