visitor visa

Settling Together: Free Newcomer Services Offered by the Canadian Government

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As a Vancouver immigration agency, Racer Immigration provides full-service immigration and business consulting, assessing the best possible ways for clients to immigrate to Canada. However, what do you do after you arrive? From securing a job to setting up a bank account, the Government of Canada offers resources that identify many excellent services available to new Canadians. Some of these include:

  • locating for a job (for example, nearby multicultural centres, immigrant services, or local libraries)
  • getting a language assessment or registering for English/French classes (such as local ESL schools)
  • finding a place to live
  • assistance for filling out forms and applications (immigrant service centres)
  • Sign up kids for school (district contact information)
  • learning about community services (multicultural centres)

The Government of Canada’s website offers a handy search engine to seek out these services based on an address or postal code, and filter by the services required. From there people can contact the service provider directly. For those who are currently outside of Canada, they can look for available Pre-Arrival Services using a similar search engine.

The immigration consultants at Racer Immigration provide the information necessary to help new Canadians get a head start. For more information, call (778) 688-4848.

Navigating Refusals—Advice from Canadian Immigration Consultants

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As a firm that provides Immigration Consulting Services in Vancouver, the team at Racer Immigration warns that one of the biggest mistakes prospective Canadians can make is waiting until their application has been refused to seek out professional help.

Navigating a refusal is always more work as it requires understanding the reason for refusal and answering these concerns when reapplying. Moreover, it’s important to realize that multiple attempts made in a short period can reduce the chances of getting to yes.

While it’s always best to work with a skilled Canadian immigration consultant or lawyer from the start, steps can be taken if an application is refused.

When someone receives a general refusal, and they do not understand the concerns of the visa officer, they should hold off on submitting another application. It’s vital to obtain the notes of the officer who refused the application and prepare a thoughtful answer in subsequent forms. To get these notes, an applicant must request the Global Case Management System or “GCMS” notes in their file. These will provide insight into the immigration officer’s concerns.

Reapplying is an opportunity to provide more information and strengthen your application. The new application should be consistent with the old one, but remember that the case will likely be looked at by a different officer—and it should stand on its own.

A reputable Canadian immigration consultant can investigate a rejection and explain your case in detail. To learn more about working with Racer Immigration, please call (778) 688-4848.

Canada Increases Opportunities for Parents and Grandparents in 2019

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Racer Immigration has good news for those hoping to reunite with their parents and grandparents in Canada. As of July 28th, 2018, the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship has increased the cap on the number of sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents from 10,000 to 17,000.

As a full-service immigration company in Vancouver, Racer immigration knows that many people who move to Canada do so with the hopes of someday bringing their families with them. Sponsorship applications continue to be one of the most popular immigration programs in Canada.

The program was so popular that between 2012 and 2013 new applications had to be stopped in order to allow Canadian immigration officers to deal with the backlog. And when the program reopened, the government imposed an annual cap of 5,000 applications.

Over time the process changed and evolved. In January of 2017, an online lottery system was introduced where 10,000 lucky Canadian citizens and permanent residents were selected at random for an invitation from IRCC to file their sponsorship applications, rather than the previous “first come first served” basis.

But the lottery system was designed based on assumptions that every person who entered the lottery would meet the eligibility requirements and would be able to make a complete application within the allotted time. In reality, many sponsors who received invitations did not meet the minimum requirements and many more who received invitations never went on to make complete their applications, and so a further call for applications was made.

With the annual cap of 10,000 applications a year being increased to 17,000, Canadian families have better odds than ever to sponsor their parents and grandparents for Canadian permanent resident status.

Racer Immigration happy to help those who want to know more about sponsorship or finding other ways to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada. Contact Racer Immigration at (778) 688-4848 to learn more.

Vancouver Immigration Advisor Announces Relaxed Rules for Medical Conditions

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As a team of  Vancouver immigration advisors, Racer Immigration knows that immigrating to Canada can be challenging, sometimes for reasons beyond an applicant’s control. Once upon a time, pre-existing medical issues were more or less automatic disqualification, but that’s about to change.

The Liberal government has announced that it will be loosening the rules that have made prospective immigrants inadmissible on medical grounds, although they are not removing the legislation entirely.  

These rules have been in place for more than forty years and have been called “way out of date” by Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, and are not in line with Canadian values or policies of inclusion for citizenship.

The revisions include not barring entry due to children with developmental delays, special education requirements or hearing/visual impairments. The current health-care cost threshold will be tripled. This should allow at least 75% of the thousand or so people previously rejected for entry on medical grounds.

While the eventual goal is to remove the medical inadmissibility policy entirely, it seems that won’t happen until more consultations have occurred. Though some have criticized  the changes as minor tweaks, it is still  a positive step towards fair inclusion.

Anyone considering immigration to Canada should consider working with an experienced Canadian immigration consultant. Policies are always changing, but an experienced consultant will be able to provide advice on how to strengthen an application and avoid major pitfalls.  Contact (778) 688-4848 to learn more.

New Survey Show Canadian Exceptionalism to Newcomers

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As a full-service immigration and business consulting firm, the team at Racer Immigration assess the best possible way for people to legally immigrate to Canada. With services that range from application assistance to troubleshooting, they provide assistance to both families and businesses looking to bring people to Canada. As a matter of course, team members have to stay up to date with laws and trends. And new research by the Environics Institute offers some good news to prospective Canadians.

In light of the news and social media, it’s clear that many countries are harbouring a growing anti-immigration stance. Many European countries and the United States have made headlines with their verbal vitriol and biased policies.

But while Canada is no stranger to bigotry and discrimination, there is much to feel positive about as well. A study by the Environics Institute has shown that overall Canadian attitudes towards immigration are largely positive, a trend that hasn’t changed over the last thirty years. Even more notably, Canada stands out in terms of the satisfaction and happiness immigrants themselves report. This is a feeling that’s shared in the 2018 World Happiness Report, where Canadian immigrants’ feelings about their “subjective well-being” ranked seventh out of 156 countries.

Despite what may be heard online, sixty percent of Canadians disagree that immigration levels are too high, and only thirty-five percent agree. Eighty percent agree that their impact on the economy is a positive one.

If you or someone you love is looking to move to Canada, contact Racer Immigration at (778) 688-4848.