Merry Christmas to all our clients and friends, wherever in the world you are!
Our Upper Canada Immigration people enjoyed their Christmas break. We are back at work for you, and accepting new and familiar callers.
It is happening! It is encouraging to see how many people have booked an appointment to discuss their eligibility to come to Canada. We are in Guyana now. We have reached our full capacity for appointment times to discuss eligibility to come to Canada with serious prospects. We are adding requests to our wait list. Sales of tickets to attend one of the two Information Seminars ceased on Sunday evening.
I received a message from the Regency Suites hotel in Guyana. Staff there informed us of an issue we had not previously encountered. A few people had called the hotel to ask if they could pay the hotel for the seminar admission, either in advance or on the day of the seminar.
Let’s start from basics:
It is neither fair nor realistic to ask a hotel to assume the responsibility for payments by you to us. And we cannot in conscience ask the hotel to handle and account for cash that has nothing to do with their hotel business. The response to the ‘pay-the-hotel’ question is a gentle, but firm no.
The confidence and ability to intelligently use credit is essential in coming to Canada, either for a visit, or to settle in Canada. So is the ability and willingness to make and keep a commitment in advance. Do not be reluctant to move away from a cash economy. A move to a first-world nation means using a credit card wisely is essential.
Some of the people who attend the seminars and/or meet with us will be both eligible to come to Canada, and interested in beginning or continuing the process.
Our on-line registration provider, Eventbrite, is safe and secure. It is reputable and stable. We don’t see your credit card, or your card number. We don’t want to. You have a record of payment, and we have an accurate attendee list. Eventbrite is used worldwide by many businesses and clubs. If you wish, you too can get an Eventbrite account (free), and use it to organize events of your own in Guyana. See the software we use at Upper Canada Immigration.
If you are eligible to come to Canada, and work with us, you will be sharing some of your life’s foundation documents: passport; life history; education; birth and marriage records and so on. You’ll be making some serious decisions after speaking with our firm to make the journey to Canada happen.
If you have a credit or debit card, you can click the button above with confidence. There are no other fees or charges to you. Other attendees who have arranged to meet with us in Guyana have already purchased their tickets.
Sooner or later in life, you are going to need a bank card and/or credit card. Maybe this is a good time to get one. Or to use the one you have. We have the hotel room for just two seminar sessions. When the tickets are gone, they are gone. Those who meet with us, or attend the seminar, and feel they are eligible to come to Canada may wish to work with Upper Canada Immigration Consultants to apply.
A new American President who won by dividing the country, and has never held any elected office in his life? Your Canadian brethren have been there before.
Canada and the United States are more than joined at the waist of North America. We are family in every literal and figurative sense. No two nations on earth have ever had a larger trading relationship. Our families marry across the border, and share a common language, most of our culture and values, and a friendship and trust warmer than any other two nations on earth or in history.
What are the odds of America surviving a Trump presidency? Probably pretty good. Even when a President’s party has had a grip on both Houses of Congress, any thought that the President ‘controls’ government is fanciful at best. And this President is not even on-side with his own party’s 2016 election platform! Though the majority of states may be governed by Republicans, U.S. states are fiercely independent and autonomous levels of government. Still, is there the potential for America, as our beloved brothers and sisters have known it, to come unglued? To be frank, your neighbours to your north concede that Americans have steered their ship of state into dark and uncharted waters.
In the past several years, America has crept into the list of top ten places from which new immigrants come to Canada. Every year, some 20,000 Americans leave the United States for a new life in Canada.
When Canada entered both world wars, Americans made their way north to join Canadian forces in the struggle. Canada stood by the United States when no other nation would during the Iranian revolution, and brought American hostages back home safely. American air travellers grounded in Canada by the attacks of September 11, 2001 found a few days of welcome in uncounted Canadian homes. It’s what family members always do to help one another.
Canada is at the same time a nearby and familiar land, as well as a very different country. If leaving your USA home and coming to Canada is more than a reaction to the state of America, it’s time to look into it. This will be a hard look.
Since 2012, Family Class immigrants sponsored by their Canadian spouses were obliged to live with their spouses (if they have no children together) for two years, under a conditional agreement undertaken at the time of acquiring permanent residence status. In what was supposedly an attempt by the former government to put an end to fraudulent marriages, then Minister of Citizenship Jason Kenny, slammed on the brakes.
“The jig is up on marriage fraud”, he declared. It was nothing more than a selfish move by a hateful system to force couples to “prove” that their relationship was genuine, with little thought for the human lives that would be affected. It gave rise to an oppressed existence for some extremely vulnerable individuals, the majority of whom were female.
The conditional PR rule kept couples firmly entrenched in cruel domestic conditions and abusive relationships, and drove fear into their hearts of ensuing consequences, should they leave their relationships.
Now that there is a proposed plan to repeal this rule in the spring, it brings to light the underlying assumption that most reasonable people make: that individuals enter into marital relationships with sincerity and good intentions. However, just like life itself, you never know what’s in store for you. Love and marriage, supposedly going together like a horse and carriage, but where sadly, some overzealous circumstance places the carriage before the horse, stuff happens.
Everyone knows that being in love or having known each other for several months or years does not guarantee a successful marriage. Thus, when there is a breakdown, or when there is abuse or violence in a marital relationship, there should be no impediment to seeking protection, safety and a complete dissolution of the marriage. The conditional PR was an impediment for many sponsored spouses. Government statistics from 2013 to 2015 indicate that 58,218 spouses and partners, along with their dependants, were given conditional permanent resident status in Canada. Seventy five percent of those who knew about, and applied for an exception to this rule, were women. Approvals were granted to 205 of the 260 cases, representing 79 percent of those that received a decision by IRCC.
In many cultures, arranged marriages are the order of the day. Match makers are highly revered, whether it is an esteemed auntie or the local self-appointed matchmaker who knows every body’s business. And the vast majority of these marriages often work beautifully. So why should unreasonable and illogical assumptions drive policy-making in Canada?
Will this repeal of the rule then give way to a system that will be fraught with irregularities, scheming applicants and a complete breakdown of integrity? Let’s give the government the benefit of the doubt on this for now, and remember, this is a different government. Here are the safeguards:
At the end of the day, what has been achieved? Not much in the way of ascertaining whether or not marriages are genuine. But it can be reasonably assumed that because of this silly rule, many sponsored spouses stayed with their abusers for fear of losing their status. Sadly, these newcomers started off their lives in Canada feeling helpless without information about possible remedies, with a perception of having been been horribly let down by everyone. Hopefully, not any more.
elcome to the Upper Canada Immigration Consultants web site. We are an immigration consulting firm, serving clients throughout the world who wish to come to Canada. Upper Canada Immigration Consultants (UCIC) provides consulting services to individuals seeking advice, guidance and assistance in citizenship, refugee and immigration matters.
UCIC prepares applications and submits them to Visa Offices on behalf of clients; drafts documents; prepares rationales in support of applications and proceedings before federal and provincial government, as well as the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). UCIC also certifies documents, affidavits and statutory declarations that are needed for submission to government offices, schools, universities, visa offices and other places.
Our firm conducts research and provides feedback to foreign nationals and clients who are interested in exploring investment programs or self-employment in Canada. We develop concept papers and business plans for the investor or entrepreneur and strategic settlement plans for the integration of their family as well.
UCIC can assist foreign nationals who have failed in their application for permanent residency, visitor’s visa, work permit or study permit to obtain your case files and the visa officer’s case notes.
Helping people get a better understanding of why an application did not succeed helps you know what to do to increase your chances the next time you apply. These notes are very helpful and provide deep insight into the decision making process and the factors that contributed to a failed application.
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