Frequently Asked Questions

Nuriye Şahin is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant with over 30 years of work experience first as an internationally trained lawyer, and now as an immigration consultant. She has a solid grasp of Canada’s Immigration Law.

She follows the current developments, updates and changes in Canada’s Immigration system. She advises you about your options and provides the best suitable solutions to your needs.  Her work is meticulous. She makes sure that you are informed at every step of your application, and she continues to assist you until you receive the final decision on your application. Professionalism and transparency guide her when she is working with her clients. She is experienced and reliable in her field.

If we count how many types of immigration categories Canada has, we can see why this is not a simple question.  Including subcategories, we can easily say that there are nearly 60 different types of immigration applications.  Each candidate’s situation should be assessed on a case-by-case basis by a licensed Canadian immigration consultant or a Canadian lawyer. In general, some of the factors that need to be taken into account to assess a candidate’s eligibility are the age of the person, education level, knowledge of Canada’s official languages, financial strength, and whether the candidate has a relative living in Canada. Therefore, an initial consultation meeting to find out your eligibility to immigrate to Canada should be your first step to avoid costly mistakes in the future.

Identifying the category that you are eligible for is very important. In some cases, you may meet the eligibility criteria of more than one category. In order to choose the most suitable category for your immigration application, you need to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each category such as cost, application processing time and more. You may contact us to make an appointment.

Application processing times vary between 6 months and 60 months depending on the type of application. It is not possible to expedite the application processing time. If your application is complete and carefully prepared, you will prevent unnecessary delays.  In some cases, your application may be refused if it is incomplete.

If you are married, your spouse, your children including step-children and adopted children who are under the age of 22 can be included in your application.

Work permit holders have the opportunity to work in Canada for a limited period of time. They are required to return to their country when their work permit expires. Permanent resident status in Canada is not temporary. They can settle in Canada to live permanently. They can enjoy many rights and privileges and apply for a Canadian Citizenship once they complete the required residency period.

It depends on whether the country you citizen of allows dual citizenship.

Primary and secondary education is free for permanent residents like it is for Canadian citizens, and higher education opportunities are the same opportunities that Canadian citizens have.

No, it is not mandatory. However, given the complexity of Canadian Immigration Law, it is important to seek the help of a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant or a Canadian immigration lawyer. Make sure that the consultant you choose to work with is a member of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). Immigration applications are complicated and require many supporting documents.  You can save money and time by submitting a carefully prepared, complete application.

After living in Canada for 3 years in the last 5 years, people with permanent resident status can apply for Canadian citizenship.

No. You do not need a study permit if the duration of your study is less than six months. However, if you are coming from a country that Canada requires a visitor visa from, you need to have a visitor visa.

If you want to find out whether you are eligible to immigrate to Canada, please fill out and submit the immigration eligibility assessment form on our website. In the light of your answers, we offer an appointment if we believe that you can benefit from a consultation meeting to discuss possible solutions. If there is nothing to be done, we briefly inform you by e-mail with the reasons.

We provide face-to-face communication using video platforms. There is no difference between coming to the office and meeting in virtual environments in terms of efficiency. We are conscious about time zone differences when we offer appointments to overseas clients.

Yes. You and your family members must have a medical exam before a final decision is made on your permanent resident application.

Depends on which type of work permit you have. If your employer is named on your work permit and your initial work permit required a positive labor market impact assessment opinion (LMIA), your employer has to provide a new LMIA. If you have post graduate work permit, you cannot extend it.

Unfortunately, you cannot. If you are learning English to qualify for college or university education in Canada, you cannot work until you start your academic education.  You can refer to your study permit or visitor visa document’s “remarks” section.

If you want to study in Canada as an international student, you must apply for a study permit at the Canadian Embassy in your country through the Visa Application Center or online.

The study permit is a type of temporary resident visa. It is the applicant’s responsibility to present supporting documents and convincing explanations that the applicant is a genuine student and will leave Canada at the end of their studies. You need to be able pay your education and living expenses while you are in Canada and have an admission offer from a Canadian college or university.

We have extensive experience assisting international students with their study permit applications. Contact us for current changes and developments and to find out how we can help you.

The short answer is yes. After graduating, you need to apply for a Post Graduate Work Permit (PGWP). You must have studied and graduated from a minimum one-year full-time program from a Designated Learning Institution in Canada.  Your program must be eligible for PGWP. If you studied 2 years full-time or longer, your post-graduation work permit will be issued for 3 years. The PGWP is granted on a one-time basis and cannot be extended or renewed.

Under normal circumstances, sponsoring siblings and secondary blood relatives is not possible. There are some exceptions to this rule; if a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident has not sponsored anyone else to immigrate to Canada, they do not have any relatives living in Canada, and there is no other person from their country of origin that is eligible to be sponsored.

You may also sponsor a sibling under the age of 18 if they have become orphaned.

If the situation outlined above applies to you, you may contact us for further information.

If you are permanent resident of Canada or you are a Canadian Citizen, you may sponsor your foreign spouse, or common-law partner. In order to be considered in a common-law relationship, you  and your partner must have been living together for at least one year.

You must not have entered a common-law relationship or marriage to take advantage of Canada’s immigration laws. If the couple does not have a child from a previous marriage under the age of 22, there is no set minimum requirement for the sponsor’s income. It is very important that the application forms and your accompanying evidence are prepared carefully and presented in a well-organized manner.

Some of the main reasons sponsorship applications fail are:

• There was not enough proof that the marriage is genuine;
• The sponsor has a police record or a court decision for domestic violence;
• The sponsor has previously sponsored another spouse, and they failed to fulfil their undertakings as a sponsor.

An application that is prepared with professional help will not only ensure that it is completed correctly, but also save you appeal expenses down the line.

What you heard is true. However, there is no organization that brings truck drivers to Canada and places them to work. You can apply to trucking companies for truck driver positions. If you are offered a job and if the employer provides you with the necessary documents to get a work permit, you can get a work permit and come to Canada as a truck driver.

Note that you need to be able communicate in English to be able to work.

Recently, the Canadian government restructured work permits for caregivers under a pilot project. Under the new system, caregivers are divided into subcategories and there is an annual quota on the number of the applications. If the pilot program is open for applications and you have an offer of employment for one of eligible subcategories of caregiver positions, we are able to help you with your work permit and permanent resident application.

In recent years, many families have come to Canada to send their school-age children to both public and private schools in Canada. Families who come as immigrants and those who come for their children’s education as international students are very satisfied with Canada’s education system.

First you need to determine which province and city you would like settle in Canada. Then, you need a letter of acceptance from a school board of that city or a letter of acceptance from a private school for your children.

Lastly, you need to apply for a study permit for your dependent children and if you are from a visitor visa required country, you need to apply for a visitor visa for yourself as an accompanying parent.

You can make an appointment to find out how we can help you with this process.

You can apply again. However, there is no point in submitting a new application without seeing your previous application documents, obtaining and examining the visa officer’s notes regarding the reasons of refusal. New application must address the visa officer’s concerns that resulted in refusal of your application.

We can help you to obtain the visa officer’s notes for the refusal.

I’ve been hearing this question since the early 2000s. This information is not correct. Canada does not grant immigration status in return for any economic activity that can be considered a passive investment.

All documents you submit to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, including visas and stamps on your passport pages, must be translated into French or English by a translator. You can not translate your documents yourself.

It is your responsibility to explain and convince the visa officer with regards your reasons to become a cook. You need to explain what your plans after your graduation are and how your education in Canada will contribute to your professional life after you graduate. What are the advantages of studying in Canada versus studying the same subject in your country of origin or wherever you live now?

Everyone’s situation is different. As a mechanical engineer, you should be able to explain why you want to be a cook.

Depends on the degree of your relationship. If you have siblings you can gain extra 15 points from Express Entry. If you have a niece or nephew, aunt or uncle, you can gain an additional 5 points for the Federal Skilled Worker category.

There is no single answer to this question because everyone’s situation is different. For example, when one year full-time study can be enough for “person A” to have enough points from Express Entry, while “person B” may need to study 2 years full-time and obtain 1 year Canadian Work Experience to be eligible to immigrate Canada. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of getting professional advice if you are considering studying in Canada to eventually become a permanent resident of Canada.

It is against the law to guarantee a decision by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada as your representative.

We can promise that we take what we do seriously. We do your eligibility assessment very carefully and present you the possible solutions. Your immigration or temporary visa application will be prepared meticulously, and you will be advised about the strengths and the weaknesses of your application.

The short answer to the question is yes. During your initial immigration eligibility assessment with us, if there are any advantages that these programs can offer you, you will be advised. You might be able to make an informed decision in the light of the opportunities that each province offers. This can determine which province to choose to study as an international student or to facilitate your permanent resident application via a Provincial Nominee Program.

While some provinces require an exploration visit as part of their provincial nominee program, other provinces only recommend it.

Whether an exploratory visit is mandatory or voluntary, you could greatly benefit from an exploratory visit to a province that you consider investing.

You can consult with us to find out whether you are eligible for one or more provincial nominee programs under the entrepreneurship category. We will ask you about the maximum and minimum amount of investment you plan to make, which business sector you want to invest in, whether you have experience in the sector you want to invest in, your business plan, and your language proficiency in English and/or French.

The first thing to do is to make an appointment with us.

First thing to find out is whether you have a right to appeal the refusal decision. It is important to seek professional advice as soon as you receive the refusal to see if it would be worthwhile to appeal or whether you even have a right to appeal. In some cases, identifying the reasons for the refusal and making a new application be a faster and more economical solution than appealing. In some cases, the only remedy can be appealing the decision.

It is one of the most common criminal inadmissibility reasons that may cause an application to be refused. It is not important what the penalty was in your home country. What is important is whether the incident is punishable in Canada has it happened in Canada. This subject is interesting and can be complicated.  To assess whether you might be criminally inadmissible to Canada is part of our eligibility assessment interview.

If you have a traffic offence or other criminal record, contact us to find out whether this could be overcome.

The organizations that can help you find a job in Canada are known as employment agencies and headhunters. As an immigration consultant, my expertise is not human resources and employment, and I have no affiliation with any such organization, so it is not possible for me to help you find a job in Canada.

I advise that you apply for positions that you are interested in on your own. The government of Canada’s official job search site is: jobbank.gc.ca.

You should be aware that Canadian employers are prohibited from asking employees to pay costs associated with the hiring procedures.