Steven and Deanna dive deep into the most common reasons IRCC refuses Express Entry applications, with a focus on what visa officers determine to be insufficient reference letters.

1:00 – Correction from last episode: OINP Skilled Trades “draw” was actually a mass cancellation. Thoughts on this and Bill C-12.

10:00 – Express Entry refusals. NOC lead statements + main duties, employers not listing job duties, duties don’t match the NOC, blended NOCs.

17:00 – Should employers include percentage breakdown of duties?

26:00 – Why verbs like “assist,” “support,” “help,” or “maintain” are dangerous

27:12 – Procedural fairness: when IRCC must NOT contact you

Live Questions.

31:10 – Will CEC draws exceed 1,000 ITAs in 2025?

32:49 – Will Bill C-12 cancel Start-Up Visa and non-priority org files?

36:50 – Is IRCC looking for any reason to refuse?

37:45 – Will I get refused if my reference letter only lists 40 hours per week?

38:34 – Could Bill C-12 cancel existing PRs?

39:26 – Could TR-PR cover SUV applicants in 2026–27?

40:05 – Why are immigrants treated like clients of a company?

41:00 – Is foreign experience locked at ITA or EAPR?

42:10 – My CRS is 449 with French. Will I get an ITA in 2025?

42:56 – What if my employer refuses to list job duties?

43:15 – Will there be more education category draws?

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Canada’s new 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan is here, and it’s a lot more confusing than media headlines suggest.

This episode unpacks how the Carney government has quietly layered “one-time initiatives” on top of the official levels plan, including a massive cohort of protected persons and in-Canada temporary residents transitioning to permanent residence, and why the oft-repeated topline of 380,000 PRs is misleading once you add those extra streams.

Topics discussed also include shrinking the temporary resident share of the population, the quiet rollback of francophone immigration targets, cuts to IRCC’s budget, and the rule-of-law issues when the same legal criteria suddenly produce totally different outcomes and higher refusal rates.

We also answer live listener questions on CEC, work experience across multiple NOCs, why there aren't many ITAs, the H-1B pathway, and more.

5:05 – The “math’s not mathing”: topline 380,000 vs extra 140,000 PRs

19:00 – Temporary resident caps, extensions, and the missing data

27:26 – Francophone targets quietly reduced & what that signals

33:06 – Massive rebound of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in 2026

36:06 – H&C: 1,100 admissions and a 50-year backlog

37:35 – Budget cuts, IRCC HR reductions & shift to automation

43:04 – Potential new categories: researchers, senior managers, allied military

44:49 – Listener Q&A: is there hope for CEC? TR→PR vs CEC draws

48:02 – Are CEC ITAs being stalled to protect processing time stats?

49:16 – CEC work experience across multiple NOCs & “primary NOC” confusion

51:00 – Can wrong NOC coding sink an otherwise solid CEC application?

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Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. He previous worked as a senior strategic analyst at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

We discuss CSIS's role in Canadian immigration screening, the increase in comprehensive background checks, how CSIS and CBSA divide up security work, the Bishnoi gang, Bill C-12, delays in applications from China, mandamus and whether Canada lacks a national security culture.

05:26 – How CSIS does immigration security screening and the dramatic increase in comprehensive background checks

10:08 – Why every citizenship application goes to CSIS for security screening

15:03 – Canada’s choices: lax screening, less immigration, more surveillance… or something else?

21:16 – Delays, disenfranchisement & back-end vs front-end screening

31:26 – CSIS vs CBSA vs IRCC: who does what in screening?

37:00 – Security vs human rights

42:01 – International students, volume and how the system can be exploited

49:04 – Timelines, CSIS capacity, and mandamus in Federal Court

Audience Questions

54:40 – Do friends and family with extreme beliefs trigger concern?

56:47 – How common is espionage in Canada?

1:02:59 – What can be done to improve transparency?

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Deanna, Sadaf Kashfi and Caroline Senini discuss your rights and obligations at the border, the intersection of immigration and criminal law, unreasonable search and seizure, mandatory minimum sentences and the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Quebec (Attorney General) v. Senneville, and more.

Sadaf Kashfi is the founder of DMF Law, a Vancouver immigration & criminal-defence litigation boutique. Caroline Senini is a Partner at Peck and Company, where she practices in constitutional and regulatory matters, at both trial and appeal.

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Greg Chubak was previously the Immigration Program Manager in Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Seattle and Vienna. He retired in 2022. 

We discuss what programs have worked and haven't over the years, applications for authorization to return to Canada, rehabilitation applications, difficult cases, what concerns Greg about the direction of immigration law. 

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Lorne Waldman, one of Canada’s most recognized immigration litigators, joins to discuss some of his most landmark cases, today’s processing and refugee backlogs, mandamus and where economic immigration policy is headed. Co-hosts Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff also field listener questions on enhanced security screening, immigration consequences of sentencing, Express Entry trends, and practical career advice for junior counsel.

Timestamps

3:12 – Maher Arar inquiry

5:41 – Niqab/citizenship-oath litigation

6:46 – Backlog cancellation class action

8:33 – Security certificates

12:13 – Pushpanathan

15:32 – Refugee health care

17:46 – The Bill of Rights and citizenship revocation

20:57 – Public opinion shift on immigration

26:49 – RPD/Federal Court backlogs and triage failures

37:07 – Federal Court inefficiencies

40:12 – Q&A: Security screening delays

49:51 – Bill C-220: should judges consider immigration consequences at sentencing?

1:00:04 – Express Entry

1:05:57 – Career advice for junior immigration lawyers

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Christian Lane is a retired Canada Border Services Agency officer whose career included serving as a Border Services Officer, Inland Enforcement Officer, Manager of Immigration Detention Operations and Chief of Enforcement & Intelligence Operations.

Topics discussed include Christian's various roles, the moral stress of immigration enforcement, whether individual officers and the agency want discretion when it comes to removals, immigration background checks and security screening, the role of CSIS vs. CBSA, and why public-safety agencies struggle to advocate for themselves.

👉 Listen/Follow. Team 10-8 Podcast, Christian's amazing podcast featuring interviews with various first responders, politicians and law enforcement officials. teamteneight.com

04:19 Christian’s CBSA start as a Border Services Officer

10:12 Jump to inland enforcement, the moral compexity of removals and the mental-health toll on officers

16:45 The role of discretion in a “no-surprises” risk adverse organizational culture

31:00 CBSA Enforcement & Intelligence Operations

36:10 Comprehensive background checks—who does what

46:00 Security screening trade-offs

53:15 Transparency & public advocacy by agencies; morale and leadership

58:00 Recommended Team 10-8 episodes

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Cory Moore is a retired Canadian Forces military lawyer who served in Afghanistan. There, he helped develop the training of female Afghan lawyers who would go on to prosecute members of the Taliban. These brave women assisted in building the country’s justice system and enforcing the rule of law, often at great personal risk. After the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021, Cory has continuously worked to bring those who can still be contacted to Canada under the Afghan special measures program, a program which the Federal Court recently described as suffering from "gross governmental negligence".

Cory in this episode shares his profound sense of Canada's betrayal of allies who placed their trust in our country, calling attention to systemic inaction and the urgent need for accountability and reform in how Canada fulfills its moral and legal obligations to those who aided its missions abroad.

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Steven and Deanna analyze the IRCC Minister’s Transition Binder (May 2025) and its implications for processing times, including extraordinary ranges for several programs. The discussion addresses potential use of Bill C-2 authorities to suspend or terminate processing, operational realities in caregiver and Start-Up Visa files, and current dynamics in Francophone pathways. A concluding Q&A covers Express Entry eligibility, quotas, and Francophone mobility.

Chapter Guide

5:37 — H&C processing time range (12–600 months)

8:12 — Start-Up Visa (420 months)

11:06 — CEC/PNP targets and provincial quota adjustments

13:04 — Bill C-2 (Stronger Border Act): scope of cancellation/suspension powers

31:03 — Live Q&A

Borderlines is a Canadian immigration law podcast hosted by Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff, providing in-depth analysis of immigration law, policy, and case law trends.

This episode contains general information only and does not constitute legal advice.

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Steven and Deanna break down the collapse in internaitonal student arrivals in 2025 and plumetting approval rates across nearly all programs. .

2:14 2025 stats: what the data says

4:01 Cap vs. collapse in student entries

7:12 Worker levels and category context

21:37 Approval-rate declines and rule-of-law concerns

33:47 Category approval snapshots (CEC/FSW/Francophone/H&C)

38:45 Live Q&A

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Steve and Deanna break down the latest political heat on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

What is the TFWP? Will Direct Apply meaningfully fix it?

Timestamps

1:40 Today’s focus: abolish/reform the TFWP?

7:42 TFWP vs IMP—what’s where

10:26 LMIA fundamentals: wage, recruitment, Job Bank

18:02 Direct Apply: what changes

34:32 Q&A starts

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On this episode of the Borderlines podcast, Deanna Okun-Nachoff and guest co-host Zeynab Ziaie Moayyed speak with constitutional law guru Sujit Choudhry. We discuss Choudhry's work on the landmark Bjorkquist case, in which the Ontario Superior Court held that the Canadian Citizenship Act's "second-generation cut-off rule" was unconstitutional. Choudhry also describes his involvement in subsequent proceedings in which Canada has repeatedly failed to comply with court-ordered mandates to correct the non-compliance.

We also delve into test case litigation at the crossroads of immigration and constitutional law. Choudhry describes factors he considers in selecting test cases, techniques for managing participants in a class action, choosing a venue (i.e. why proceed at federal vs. provincial court - ?), and factors that make issues at the nexus of immigration and constitutional law such a hotspot for strategic litigation.

Finally, we discuss Bill C-2 (currently before the House), which proposes fundamental changes to the Canadian immigration scheme (not to mention privacy law, criminal, charitable, anti-terrorism, etc). Our focus is on allegations that the law proposed may not be Charter compliant, which leads to braoder consideration of the government's decision to introduce this legislation in the first place.

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We cover recent developments at the intersection of criminal and immigration law. We review significant Supreme Court of Canada decisions, highlight problematic CBSA investigations, discuss judicial errors during sentencing, and explore current trends in immigration policy and processing.

We also answer live audience questions about express entry scores, humanitarian and compassionate applications, parent and grandparent sponsorship backlogs, and more.

Timestamps:

0:17 – Introduction and overview of crim-immigration updates

1:36 – Supreme Court decision on Canada’s sex work laws (R. v. Kloubakov, 2025 SCC 25)

13:02 – U.S. convictions and IRPA section 36(2) “committing an offence” provisions

16:03 – California automatic relief and foreign spent convictions

19:08 – Supreme Court decision on youth sentencing (R. v. I.M., 2025 SCC 23) and inadmissibility

20:56 – Why youth convictions abroad still trigger inadmissibility: Flores Giron v. Canada

21:15 – CBSA officer self-investigation leads to stayed charges

23:33 – Judicial misconduct: judge misreads sentence and conceals error

33:38 – IRCC now providing refusal notes with TR applications: impact on litigation

38:05 – Political narratives around “letting criminals into Canada”

48:08 – Live Q&A

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We conduct a comprehensive analysis of the immigration implications of Bill C-2, an omnibus bill tabled by the federal government that significantly expands government authority and introduces sweeping changes across multiple areas of Canadian law.

Bill C-2's immigration provisions would:

Grant the federal government broad powers to suspend, cancel, or vary immigration documents, including permanent resident visas, permanent resident cards, temporary resident visas, work permits, study permits, and electronic travel authorizations, based on vague “public interest” criteria.

Permit the bulk suspension or cancellation of immigration and refugee applications without individual case review, raising serious concerns regarding Charter rights and judicial oversight.

Introduce major restrictions on refugee protection claims, including a one-year filing bar for those who do not make a claim within 12 months of arrival and expanded ineligibility for individuals who cross the Canada–U.S. border irregularly.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction & overview of Bill C-2

6:39 – The democratic and constitutional concerns with omnibus legislation

10:28 – Government powers to cancel immigration documents and applications

27:04 – Refugee claim restrictions: one-year filing bar and ineligibility rules

33:05 – Transitional provisions and measures already in effect

40:09 – Designated representatives and capacity considerations

46:16 – Admissibility hearings, PR status questions, and enforcement abroad

51:49 – Live audience Q&A

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The complexities of Canadian citizenship by descent with immigration lawyers Amandeep Hayer and Lisa Middlemiss.

[1:35] What citizenship by descent means.

[3:17] Historical and current limitations, including the first-generation rule and exceptions.

[5:55] The 2023 Bjorkquist decision.

[9:49] Bill C-3.

[13:57] Interim measures.

[20:26] Debates over residency rules and comparisons to U.S. laws.

[31:00] Voting rights for citizens abroad and potential fraud risks.

[44:02] How to prove citizenship without birth certificates.

[45:43] Citizenship for displaced Native Americans, and

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This episode is a repost of our interview with John McCallum, Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration from November 2015 to January 2017. He passed away on June 15, 2025.

A Member of Parliament from 2000 - 2017, he also served as Defence Minister under Jean Chrétien, and Veterans Affairs Minister, National Revenue Minister, Natural Resources Minister and as Chair of the Expenditure Review Committee under Paul Martin.

As Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, Mr. McCallum led Canada's effort to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees over a period of three months. He also increased the age of dependency from 18-22, repealed conditional permanent residency and reduced family class processing times.

5:00 – The resettlement of 40,000 refugees in Canada.

22:00 – The division of immigration repsonsibilities between IRCC, CBSA and ESDC. Should they be combined?

28:00 – What goes into reducing processing times. 33:00 – Abolishing conditional permanent residence.

39:00 – Mr. McCallum’s approach to being immigration critic towards the end of the Harper era.

42:30 – The Barbaric Cultural Practices Act and the Niqab ban.

44:00 – Caregivers

48:00 – Helping as Minister on individual files.

54:00 – What goes into levels planning?

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In this episode, we dive into Dan Hiebert's latest C.D. Howe Institute report on how different immigration rates shape Canada's economic challenges and regional disparities.

Key topics include:

Aging Population and Immigration: Why Canada’s current immigration levels are insufficient to offset an aging population, and the implications of a simultaneously older and larger population.

Regional Disparities: How immigration disproportionately fuels growth in major cities like Toronto and Vancouver, exacerbating regional population and economic gaps.

Ethical and Practical Questions: Is it ethical to direct immigrants to settle in rural areas with limited services and opportunities? Should newcomers be expected to revitalize communities that Canadians are leaving?

Policy Trade-offs: The tension between regionalization efforts, productivity goals, and francophone immigration targets. Dr. Hiebert also touches on innovative approaches, such as Sweden’s model of using social housing to encourage regional settlement, and previews his upcoming research on the role of ethnic enclaves in Canada.

🔗 Link to Paper: https://cdhowe.org/publication/fast-vs-slow-how-different-immigration-rates-can-impact-canadas-economic-challenges-and-regional-disparities/

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