AKCanada

Name Changes and the Permanent Residence Card

A Canadian immigration client wrote to me this morning to ask about a name change for her children prior to arriving in Canada with the immigrant visas. It is important to realize that the name that appears in one’s passport is the name that will appear on the Canadian permanent resident card. Unless one also […]

Prime Minister Speaks on Canadian Immigration Fast-tracking

Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper spoke at an Indo-Canadian gala event held in downtown Toronto on Saturday, April 19, 2008. In his speech, he repeated his government’s desire to implement the proposed legislative changes to revise the Canadian immigration system. The changes would place highly coveted immigrants – like doctors or other skilled labourers – […]

Expiration Guidelines for Canadian Immigration Visas

The expiration date on Canadian immigration visas is usually one year after the completion of the medical examination. Since medicals for spousal sponsorships are completed before the application for Canadian permanent residence is submitted, it is wise to have the examination completed just before filing the application to allow the most time possible for the […]

Medical Examination Requirements for Canadian Immigration – Sponsored Spouses

The medical examination of a spouse being sponsored continues to frustrate some of our clients. A person being sponsored must go to a designated medical practitioner (“DMP”) whose name appears on the list of DMPs published by the Canadian government. The DMP forwards the results of the examination to the proper authorities but provides the […]

New Canadian Immigration Legislation Will Shorten Wait and Backlog

The governments response to the criticism of its negatively perceived new Canadian immigration legislation is that it believes these changes will shorten the wait and backlog. In truth they may be more interested in serving Canadian Business needs by trying to bring qualified business immigrants to Canada more quickly. Most Canadians, if asked would probably […]

New Canadian Immigration Legislation Survives Key Vote

On April 9, 2008, the Conservative government’s new immigration legislation survived a key vote in the Canadian House of Commons, despite an attempt by the New Democrats to block the controversial reforms. Members of Parliament voted against the NDP motion that strove to block the Conservative budget implementation bill, which contains the new legislation to […]