The Cana­dian Par­lia­ment In Ottawa

Wel­come to my new series, “How to immi­grate to Canada“!

I recently received quite a lot of emails, ask­ing me ques­tions about the immi­gra­tion process. So I decided to explain the whole process in 10 posts, which will be pub­lished every Saturday.

I also encour­age you to ask any ques­tion you may have. I’m not an immi­gra­tion con­sul­tant, but from expe­ri­ence, I may be able to point you to the right direction!

In the series, we will see the dif­fer­ent options you have to come to Canada, as well as your rights and duties as a Per­ma­nent Res­i­dent, what hap­pens after you arrive etc.

The first thing I’d like to tackle today are the two most com­mon “immi­gra­tion myths”. I used to spend a lot of time in var­i­ous immi­gra­tion forums, and the same ques­tions would always pop up.

“Some­body (such as a lawyer) can help me speed up the process“.

To go through the Cana­dian immi­gra­tion process, you nor­mally do not need to hire an immi­gra­tion lawyer or an immi­gra­tion con­sul­tant (both known as immi­gra­tion rep­re­sen­ta­tives). Although the process appears com­plex at first, if you spend a lit­tle bit of time try­ing to under­stand it, you can per­fectly fill up all the forms by yourself.

Know­ing that, many immi­gra­tion rep­re­sen­ta­tives adver­tise that they can improve your chances of obtain­ing the per­ma­nent res­i­dence in Canada. Some even claim that your appli­ca­tion will be processed faster if you use their services.

Can they really improve your chance of receiv­ing the per­ma­nent res­i­dence? Well, I’d say that is a bit exag­ger­ated. Sure, they prob­a­bly know how to fill up the paper­work. But if you are eli­gi­ble, you are eli­gi­ble, if you are not… well, an immi­gra­tion lawyer or con­sul­tant can’t change that!

One thing is for sure, hir­ing an immi­gra­tion lawyers will not speed up you claim with Cit­i­zen­ship and Immi­gra­tion Canada. Nobody has this power… appli­ca­tion are treated on a first come first serve basis, with some pos­si­ble excep­tion due to sta­tus (refugee for example).You will not have bet­ter chance to be accepted if you go with an immi­gra­tion representative.

Bot­tom line: immi­grat­ing to Canada is not cheap. Between the appli­ca­tion fees, the right of per­ma­nent res­i­dence fees, the med­ical exams etc. you already have a lot to pay. Hir­ing a rep­re­sen­ta­tive can eas­ily dou­ble your bud­get. That said, if your case is very com­pli­cated, you may ben­e­fit from pro­fes­sional advice. In this case, choose your rep­re­sen­ta­tive carefully.

Cit­i­zen­ship & Immi­gra­tion states that “the only rep­re­sen­ta­tives who may charge a fee to rep­re­sent or advise you on immi­gra­tion and refugee mat­ters with the Gov­ern­ment of Canada are […] lawyers mem­bers […] of a Cana­dian provin­cial or ter­ri­to­r­ial law soci­ety, immi­gra­tion con­sul­tants who are mem­bers […] of the Cana­dian Soci­ety of Immi­gra­tion Con­sul­tants, and notaries who are mem­bers […] of the Cham­bre des notaires du Québec. The Gov­ern­ment of Canada will not deal with non-authorized rep­re­sen­ta­tives who charge a fee for their ser­vice.“

They are a lot of frauds reported with so-called immi­gra­tion lawyers:

• To find out if an immi­gra­tion rep­re­sen­ta­tive is licensed to rep­re­sent you or pro­vide immi­gra­tion advice, check their mem­ber­ship.
• The Cana­dian Soci­ety of Immi­gra­tion Con­sul­tants also pro­vides a list of its mem­bers, and a list of the mem­bers that were revoked.
• Tips on how to choose an immi­gra­tion rep­re­sen­ta­tive, from Cit­i­zen­ship & Immigration
• How to file a com­plaint about your representative
• FAQ on immi­gra­tion rep­re­sen­ta­tives on the Cit­i­zen­ship & Immi­gra­tion website
• Do you need to hire an immi­gra­tion representative?

“I need to be mar­ried to a Cana­dian cit­i­zen to immi­grate to Canada“. Vari­ant: “It’s much eas­ier to immi­grate to Canada when you are mar­ried to a Cana­dian cit­i­zen. “

Sign up on any immi­gra­tion forum, add in your pro­file that you are “in Canada” and you will soon receive dozens of pri­vate emails: “you are so pretty, I love you, let’s get mar­ried!“, or “u r sexy pls IM me I want come Canada“.

I have no doubt that you are indeed very sexy, but there is another expla­na­tion to your sud­den sex-appeal. Indeed, a lot of peo­ple think that if you marry a Cana­dian cit­i­zen, you auto­mat­i­cally are accepted to immi­grate to Canada (some even think you auto­mat­i­cally get Cana­dian citizenship!).

Let me get that straight: it is absolutely not true.

If you are mar­ried to a Cana­dian cit­i­zen, you have no spe­cial rights. Same thing if you are the common-law part­ner of a Cana­dian cit­i­zen by the way. Yes, you heard me: no spe­cial rights. I think in the U.S.A, you can get a “fiancé visa”… well, not in Canada.

Now, if you want to live with your spouse in Canada, you will have to go through the immi­gra­tion process like every­body else. You will prob­a­bly apply in the spon­sor­ship cat­e­gory (more on that in a cou­ple of weeks), and it will take a few months (even some­times a few years) to obtain the per­ma­nent res­i­dence. Besides, be aware that Cit­i­zen­ship & Immi­gra­tion agents are trained to detect “mar­riage of con­ve­nience” and take mar­riage fraud very seriously…

Now, I’m not telling you to not marry a Cana­dian (they are very nice, I have one at home!) but it’s by no mean a guar­an­teed way to immi­grate to Canada. You have been warned!

Next week, we will see how to apply for Per­ma­nent Res­i­dence in the “skilled worker cat­e­gory”. Enjoy your weekend!

Related arti­cles:

1. Use­ful Links For Immi­gra­tion (10÷10)
2. How to Avoid… Immi­gra­tion Fraud
3. How Long Does The Immi­gra­tion Process Take? (6÷10)
4. How Much Does Immi­grat­ing Really Cost? (5÷10)
5. Immi­gra­tion: The Spon­sor­ship Cat­e­gory (3÷10)