Immigration Lawyers for Permanent Residence in Canada

When most people think of Canadian immigration, they are thinking about permanent residence in Canada, whether in Nova Scotia or elsewhere in the country. Our team of immigration lawyers is here to assist you. Some applicants may apply while in Canada: refugees, humanitarian and compassionate applications, spouses of Canadians and people who are here on valid (temporary) work permits while their permanent residence applications are in process. Further details on these categories can be found below.

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Family Class

If you are married to or in a common law relationship with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, if you have a parent you wish to sponsor to come to Canada, or if you wish to adopt a child in another country, you may qualify for one of the Family Class categories. Send us an email and our lawyers will give you a few options to consider.

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Economic Classes

Provincial Nominee Programs

Each Canadian province has the ability to nominate immigrants with skills or circumstances the province values and needs. These programs frequently change and criteria and processing times vary between each province and region.

Start-Up Visa (venture capital or angel investor-backed)

This category provides permanent residence to applicants who have a Canadian venture capital or angel investor-backed business plan. IRCC is partnering with the Canadian Venture Capital Association and the National Angel Capital Organization to assess and facilitate this category and assess the qualifications of the proposed start-ups. At least one year of post-secondary education and functional English or French are required.

Self Employed

The Self-Employed Program is for people who intent to be self-employed in Canada in a cultural, artistic or athletic field. You must show relevant work experience and that your occupation will support you in Canada. Sometimes it is helpful to apply for a significant benefit (C11) work permit in advance to demonstrate you have the talent and skills to qualify in this program.

Express Entry

Currently, there are three Express Entry categories: Federal Skilled Workers, Federal Skilled Trades and Canada Experience Class. These are administered through the Express Entry portal. Applicants first create a profile (and thereby enter “the Pool”), and that in turn provides a score. On a regular basis, IRCC issues Invitations to Apply (ITA) to those ranked highest. Anyone with a LMIA-based job offer is guaranteed to be issued an ITA, assuming they meet the other criteria.

In order to enter the Pool, you must have at least 67 points and both an educational credential assessment and a language test. At the ITA stage, you will need the medical and police checks, along with the rest of the actual permanent residence forms and supporting documents.

Note that the Express Entry profile creation can be tricky due to the initial scoring to enter the Pool and the way certain occupations are coded under the NOC (National Occupation Classification), in addition to other system requirements which are less than intuitive. We are happy to assist with the profile creation and/or the application process. Please see our fees page for further details.

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 Refugees and Humanitarian and Compassionate Applications

This area of our practice is founded on the belief in international human rights and Canada’s obligation to offer safety and security to those who need it. There are two routes for refugees – inland applications for asylum or private sponsorship of overseas refugees. We can assist with both areas.

For Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) applications, the focus is different from the refugee programs. People who have strong H&C grounds to remain in Canada are those who can demonstrate significant ties to Canada and undue hardship if they were required to leave Canada, taking into a variety of factors including the best interests of any child affected by the decision.