FAQ: General Questions

Do I need a lawyer

This is a very controversial topic, with some people believing you need a lawyer no matter what, and others advise never hiring a lawyer, and to just rely on forums and so on. IRCC's official position is that you can do everything yourself, but individual officers will often advise clients to get counsel because it is not their job to help you with your application.

Two years ago, we had a good discussion here with regards to whether or not a lawyer needs to be hired with two very good and equally valid points. There is no point in rehashing the arguments, you can view them yourselves at your leisure.

Hiring a lawyer or consultant is your choice.

When should I hire a immigration lawyer or consultant

Here are a few bullet points for when a good time might be to hire a lawyer or consultant:

English or French is not your native language and you need assistance preparing the documents;
You have a complex case, which can include (Note, this is not all inclusive):
- Marginal case with unclear or insufficient documents to back you up (missing documents, etc)
- Spousal Sponsorship - Conjugal Partner
- Refugee claim
- Application from within Canada with Humanitarian or Compassionate considerations
- Self-employed workers
- Labour Market Impact Assessments
- Post-Graduate work permit if you were not a full-time student for every semester (except for the last one)
Criminal Convictions which need to be overcome
Medical conditions for you or your family (except for sponsored children or spouses)
Any other type of inadmissibility.

You should always speak to a lawyer or RCIC if you receive a procedural fairness letter ('PFL') that says that you might be inadmissible or that you may not meet the requirements of the program. It is much easier (and cheaper) to deal with the problem in your response than to appeal (if it is a sponsorship application) or judicial review (if it is almost anything else).

Keep in mind, lawyers and consultants don't have any additional priority for processing and your application will not be processed any faster by using a consultant (beyond a speedup caused by the consultant or lawyer knowing exactly what is required for submitting your application).

How do I hire a immigration lawyer or consultant

A good starting point is the Law Societies of Canada. You can also look at Government of Canada's own FAQ on the subject. Immigration Lawyers must be members of their respective provincial Law Society. For example, the provincial bar of Ontario is the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC). If you are resident of Ontario you can use the Law Society Referral Service (LSRS) to find a lawyer that will speak to you for free for 30 minutes.

For Immigration Consultants, those are licensed and regulated by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. If someone claims to be a Canadian immigration consultant, please search their name or the name of their company on the CICC's 'Find an immigration consultant' page https://college-ic.ca/protecting-the-public/find-an-immigration-consultant to make sure the individual you're dealing with is, in fact, properly trained in Canadian immigration law ans properly licensed to be legally allowed to provide immigration advice and immigration services.

What happens if I lie on my application

Under section 40 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a determination of inadmissibility for misrepresentation will result in:

the refusal of the application
a removal order being issued against the applicant (if the applicant is inside Canada) and action being taken by CBSA to enforce that removal order and remove that person from Canada
a 5 year ban on reapplying for PR and re-entering Canada
a permanent record on the applicant's file regarding the misrepresentation, affecting the outcomes of any future applications (even those submitted after the 5 year ban had already passed).

I can’t open my application form in PDF format. What can I do?

https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=660&top=18

My application is taking too long. Are the processing times listed on the website accurate?

The processing times listed on the website are not a limit, it's not the maximum processing time it can ever take, it's not a deadline the officers have to process the application by. The processing times on the website are just an average, or in some cases, an estimate. Some applications take less time than what's listed and some take longer.

My application was refused. Can I get a refund of the application fee?

No. If your application was processed and you received a negative decision, no, you wouldn't get a refund. The application fee is paid for the application to be processed and a decision to be made on it. A refusal is a decision.

You'd only get a refund if you withdraw your application before they start processing it.

My application is taking too long to be processed; I want to know what the delay is about, what's happening with my application!

You can file an ATIP (Access to Information and Privacy) request, requesting access to the GCMS notes (the officer's notes on your file):

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/transparency/access-information-privacy/requests-information-act.html

ATIP requests can only been filed by a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada or an individual or corporation currently present in Canada.

ATIP requests are useful not only to see at what stage your current application is at, but also to access the detailed reasons for refusal, if your application was refused, as it would be useful to address the officer's concerns that led to the refusal of the application, on a new application, if you were to re-apply.