49 Issue 147 April 2014
Immigration Consultant Mohamed Abuzayed
joins »Lee & Company« for Immigration
Services
Abuzayed: I joined the Company because of its success
and good reputation
IMMIGRATION CONSULTATION IS NEEDED IN LONDON, AS THE SYSTEM FACES MANY CHANGES
HAVING A TRUSTED
CONSULTANT HELPS IN FULFILLMENT OF YOUR GOALS
”Lee & Company“ for immigration
services recently opened
a new branch in London, Ontario. This
branch is administered by
the
immigration consultant Mohamed
Abuzayed to serving mainly the Arabic Community. The company used to receive calls from London, but did not open the office till they found a trusted person. Albilad visited the Company
office and talked to the office manager Mr.
Abuzayed and the principal consultant of the company Mr. Marko Vitorovich.
About the services offered
by
the
Company Mr. Abuzayed
said:
”The law firm was formed circa 2001, with a special focus on immigration
litigation
and refugee
appeals,
I
heard
about
their
growing reputation and success in the field
and I joined recently, as they are looking
to establish a network
to help people across the country
with immigration issues.
“ Mr. Abuzayed
explains that he recognized
that these specialized services were
not
just a growing reality of immigration law,
but a particular growing need for the Arab
community, in
London,
where
Arabic permanent residents when
applying for extensions of their statuses
or applying for citizenships are routinely investigated and prosecuted for allegedly failing to comply with their residency obligations. To better serve the Arabic community
in London, Lee & Company moved to open a branch office in
London, managed by Mr. Abuzayed.
The firm recognized the need for their legal expertise in the Arabic community, and the large
Arabic community in London, as they
would get requests from clients
in London to assist them, however, they did not want
to open
an office until they could
find a person of trust. Once that person of trust was
found, Mr. Abuzayed, they moved to open
an office“.
Mr. Marko Vitorovich, the Principal Consultant of the firm, explained the firm services:
"The need
for
our
type
of
services, what we call
litigation,
which
consists
of refused
cases,
inadmissibility
issues,
spousal appeals, deportations, refugee appeals, detention reviews, and
such cases, is unfortunately a growing reality of
immigration changes“.
He noted
that immigrant communities are facing this new reality and many need help to navigate
this new world
of Canadian immigration. He notes further
that while the government boasts about the high level of
immigration, most immigrant
communities are well aware of a very different
reality.
He added:
”This trend started
years ago, when Ms. Lee and I, first
started talking about it and realizing
the old days and old ways of practicing
immigration law would be
drastically changed, and you need hard
core legal skills, a deep knowledge of the
law, great advocacy
skills,
both
written
and oral, a litigation approach,
which does not mean that you are always
adversarial, but rather that you prepare
and
present your case, as if you are facing the toughest judge, that the days of simply filling forms in
even the simplest
of cases was long over.
These days even an honest mistake on the
form could lead to a refusal.
This has been
increasingly the reality
and more so today
than when we started 15 years ago.“
Ms. Lee the Principal of the Firm states:
”Enforcement is increasingly the name of the game“. She explains how it has come to
light that the government has set a target of 875 cases per year to strip persons granted refugee protection of their
status
through
vacation or cessation proceedings. She continues - ”We are currently
handling such cases, and in one case, the person has been
found to be a refugee
some 14 years ago, and for
most of those
14 years the person has been
a permanent resident.“ Ms. Lee adds, that persons who have become
permanent residents after given refugee protection, can be removed years
later through no fault of their
own but simply because the situation in their
country has changed.
They add that the proposed changes
to the citizenship laws, in some ways, at least in part,
is targeted at the Arabic community,
and it is also codification of something that has been a reality for some time. They explain that because of what the government
perceived as a high level of fraud in both applications for renewal of PR status,
and applications for citizenships, particularly for
those working in the Middle East and abroad,
the government
has
for
the
past
several
years scrutinized both PR and Citizenship applications very carefully.
Mr. Abuzayed
explains – ”In the past you could simply
fill forms and provide minimal info and obtain a new PR card or
even become a citizen, our community in London, knows this is no longer the reality“. Mr. Abuzayed added that the new changes
to the citizenship laws, will impact the Arabic community, as the government introduces changes to make it more difficult
to obtain citizenship, and for some time now even a renewal
of a PR card application is subject to more
scrutiny. Again,
in the past, permanent
residents were able to stay in Canada for 3 years,
apply for citizenship and then leave. When the processing
of
the
citizenship
application was complete they would come back to complete
the citizenship application and collect their cards. That
is no longer the case anymore, as for several years now, citizenship applications are delayed,
taking several years to process, while immigration
investigate whether the applicant
continues
to maintain their PR residency obligations and the
possible granting/refusing of citizenship.
They also explain that they are seeing an increase in investigations against
permanent residents and even citizens across the board, in
the Chinese and Indian communities they are seeing many investigations of permanent
residence, particularly when applying
for
citizenship, of people who landed on spousal sponsorships.
Mr. Vitorovich continues:
”even here, sometimes the person has been a permanent resident for almost a decade, and they have what appear to be very minimal reason to suspect the marriage that brought the PR to Canada was one of convenience, and yet they pursue them“. Alarmingly, even citizens are not saved“.
Ms. Lee explains:
”In the past
if
you
are
a
citizen,
unless
you are,
for
example
a war criminal when
you
obtained citizenship and you lied about it, it
was almost
unheard
of
that they would try to remove
your
citizenship,
however, from what
we
see going forward, if there is misrepresentation not only on
your
citizenship application, but
related on how you
became
a permanent resident, they
will consider trying
to remove your citizenship.“
Mr. Vitorovich adds:
”However as tough as the
new reality is, the truth is
that there
are
remedies,
there are solutions, to all of these issues,
it is just that they involve
time, preparation, effort
and knowledge. People know that Canada seems to be closing category after category of immigration“.
Ms. Lee continues:
"What is most troubling is that the government feels free to apply laws retroactively, first Federal Skilled Workers who have been waiting patiently in line for years, are told they are being eliminated to clear up the backlog, their dreams of immigrating to Canada are over, now it’s the investors turn. No matter how you spin it, this is terribly unfair. Imagine how you would feel if it was your family in this line up that is eliminated by retroactive legislation."
Many top immigration law
firms
in the country have challenged
the
government’s decision to cancel
the
FSW category
and
the
cases
are
still
before the Court.
Ms. Lee continues: ”We are in the forefront of challenging this retroactive
legislation, one of the lead cases in the
Federal Skilled Worker litigation is ours, and for the investor
category, we are presently representing some 50 investors
and we will be challenging the investor
retroactivity, as well. We will take this issue as far as it can go, because
we see it as a question
of the Rule of Law, an issue
that strikes at
the heart of
core Canadian legal values.“
Mr. Abazuyed pointed
out, ”Although the rules have changed and immigration
is getting tougher, you should not lose
hope. It is important to keep in mind
the importance of hiring
trustworthy
and diligent counsel to help you achieve your immigration goals. Nowadays, most processing applications
involve
having an employer waiting for you; this is
key and true for both provincial and federal programs“.
