how to respond to a pfl?
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Because PFL is usually the very last chance for you to save your future, it is important to understand the following specific determining aspects that determine the outcome of the response.
We have mastered the art of PFL response as we have been doing this day in and out for the past many years and following are some of the very important aspects you need to keep in mind while drafting the PFL response because this is your last chance.
How well the PFL response is crafted: Is the response following the legal response requirements? Is it conveying the story well without making it way too long?
Overall flow of the letter: It is very important to consider this point because in legal writing, maintaining a coherent flow is extremely crucial. IRCC officials should find the letter meaningful and sensible to read it thoroughly before pronouncing a decision. Do not forget: for them, you are only a file number but for you, it is your life. And, this is the final chance you have.
Case laws: It is very important to include relevant case laws to strengthen the letter. The more the better. But, the case laws will have to be relevant and hence legal research plays a very important role here.
H&C Consideration: Some PFL response will absolutely require you to include humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) component to seek an exemption. While this inclusion may be important, this component needs to be incorporated absolutely carefully to avoid any potential backfire.
All in all, a proper response to the Procedural Fairness Letter (PFL) is an absolutely critical element for you to save your future from a negative decision and there will be no second chance. Because of this reason, you are given between seven to 30 days to prepare a solid response because IRCC wants to hear your side of the story.
As an organization, we specialize in responding to the PFLs and we know how to respond to a PFL effectively. If you need us to review your situation, please schedule a Professional Consultation as the first step and we will deep dive into your specific case.
Some of our PFL videos that you may find useful are available on our YouTube channel.
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Failed to declare spouse and now she is not a member of family class: how to respond to this PFL?
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At a time the Permanent Residency application is processed, it is very important to declare and have the spouse examined, regardless of whether she is accompanying the principal applicant or not. Failing to declare the spouse leads to IRCC not examining the spouse at a time the permanent residency application is processed and hence the spouse does not become a member of the family class.
In simplistic term, if the husband does not include the wife during the PR application and later on wants to sponsor the wife, he will simply not be able to by law. In this circumstance, the IRCC will send a Procedural Fairness Letter (PFL) following the principle of natural justice and would expect the husband to convince the IRCC as to why she needs to be included as a member of the family class. The burden of proof, in this case, lies on the husband.
This is one of the most serious form of PFLs because if the IRCC is not convinced that the wife is indeed a member of the family class, the husband will never be able to sponsor the wife in the future. We have already made a fairly detailed YouTube video on this topic, which can be accessed through this link.
As an organization, we specialize in responding to this kind of PFLs and so far, our experience has all been positive. Our professional services fees to take up a complicated project of this nature and responding to the PFL in our legal letterhead costs CAD$ 899+13% HST. Here, we do everything for you.
Spousal or Family Class are one of the most serious and life changing applications, and if a PFL is not responded legally how it should otherwise be, it may have negative and irreperable ramifications. Hence, it is highly advisable to consultant a legal professional who is experienced in dealing with PFL related matters.
As an organization, we specialize in dealing with every minute aspect when it comes to the Procedural Fairness Letter and a Professional Consultation with Mr. Niladri Mukherjee, RCIC acts as the starting point for us to review the situation to provide case specific legal opinion.
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I got a 5-year ban: now what?
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More often than not, we have clients coming for Professional Consultation after they already have faced a 5-year ban. Of course, that is not the best situation to deal with but having said that, all is still not gone, you can still request for a reconsideration of decision with legal explanations backed by strong documentary evidences should your situation permit.
Though the success rate of these kinds of applications are very low, if done properly and if your specific situation demands, there still remain a possibility that the ban would be waived off.
There are still many parts of the world where unlicensed agents work on clients’ applications though they are not permitted to by the Canadian law. Because of their lack of understanding of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act of Canada and the Regulations, they tend to put incorrect answers in the application form and sometimes present fraudulent documents as well. The result? Clients face the hit.
If you are able to reasonably prove that in spite of the best of the efforts from your end, the situation went out of your control or that everything was done by the agent keeping you into the dark or it was simply it was an error of decision making at IRCC’s end - you could still save your situation, provided a proper and legal reconsideration request is being put forward.
We, at Nuvonation, specialize in responding to the Procedural Fairness Letter and the Letter of Inadmissibility and if you need our legal and professional assistance with this, please consider booking a Professional Consultation as the very first step, let us go through your documents, your case in detail and hopefully in the end, you know what to do next, why and how.
If you are confident to respond to the letter by yourself but need us to guide you with drafting a perfect letter, PFL Response Review Consultation by Mr. Niladri Mukherjee, RCIC is probably what you are looking at. During this 90 minutes long video call, Mr. Niladri Mukherjee RCIC himself reviews the SOP (drafted by the client) over a video call, he reviews the overall flow of the letter, suggests changes, provides point wise modification, suggest relevant immigration case laws to be incorporated should that be a requirement, suggests appropriate documents to be added to make the submission even stronger, and provides any such inputs that enhances the chances of success to a significant extent.
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Visitor visa reconsideration request - does this even work?
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9 out of 10 times, when clients come to us for a Professional Consultation after facing a refusal of their Canada visitor visa applications, they want to go for a reconsideration! Hence, this brief write up - the objective of which is to break some myths around this issue.
The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (2002) and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations have no provisions that allow for a reconsideration of the decision pertaining a TRV already being made by a competent IRCC officer. In other words, if your visit visa got refused, you are technically looking at a complete re-application and not a reconsideration.
Having said that, there is no harm in putting forward a reconsideration request, citing reasons for reconsideration in as clear manner as possible coupled with strong documentations, to see if an immigration officer is lenient enough to even take a look at the reconsideration request. Whether your request would be heard or no, is purely dependent on the immigration officer.
Having said that, even before you decide to put forward a reconsideration request, it is very important to understand whether it is even worth doing so or a straight forward re-application will work better. We have made a short YouTube video on this topic, give it a watch, if you can. Do not forget, the possibility of success of a visitor visa reconsideration is extremely negligible.
If you need us to guide you in the right direction, you are most welcome to schedule a Professional Consultation and we will be very happy to review your situation from a holistic perspective to channelize your time, money and energy in the right direction.
Thank you for reading.
I have received a Procedural Fairness Letter. How should I respond?
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Procedural Fairness Letter or a PFL is given as a process of natural justice in Canada and a PROPER AND LEGAL submission to that letter is perhaps your last chance to save yourself from being potentially banned from entering Canada for five years.
What is a Procedural Fairness Letter or PFL?
One may receive a procedural fairness letter if IRCC believes that a misrepresentation has been committed. The letter explains the reasons for their concerns and provides them with an opportunity to submit a response. IRCC usually provides a certain amount of time to respond. Failure to respond to a procedural fairness letter may result in the application refusal or a ban. If you ever face a ban from entering Canada, it is unlikely that Canada or any other major country (such as the US, UK or Australia) will ever issue you a visa. Hence, one MUST take this letter very seriously and deal with extreme caution. Consider this as your LAST CHANCE.
We have made a detailed YouTube video on this topic. You may watch that video from this link. If a long video is not for you, here is a shorter version.
How to reply to a procedural fairness letter?
More often than not, we come across clients who got so tensed after seeing that letter that they thought a quick response to IRCC would save their future and without any professional consultations, they respond to IRCC.
From our extensive experience in dealing with such cases, we can certainly confirm that knee-jerk reactions of such nature prove little to no effective at all, more often than not, those pleas are not heard and as a result, clients face the inevitable ban. Procedural Fairness Letters always come with a reasonable timeframe for you to come up with a legal response and those timeframes are given for a reason - for you to draft and submit a proper legal response with the help of adequate documentation. Utilize that time to the best of your advantage.
It is VERY important to reply properly, covering every aspect that IRCC should remain aware of.
We always advise clients to take stock of the situation, understand the options available on the table as it varies from one client to the next, learn how to respond legally and only then decide if they are confident in preparing such a comprehensive legal response with citation of relevant Canadian immigration case laws backed by relevant supporting documentations all by yourself or professional assistance will be required. We have made a video on this specific topic as well which will be useful to watch in this context.
Unless and until you have a thorough understanding of the Immigration and Refugee Act of Canada (IRPA 2002) and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations of Canada (IRPR), it is probably a prudent idea to seek professional assistance for this kind of complex legal task.
All in all, a Procedural Fairness Letter is a very critical document that needs to be taken very seriously and a comprehensive legal response needs to be given within the permissible time limit that satisfies the IRCC and meets the regulations.
Responding to the Procedural Fairness Letter is our STRENGTH and we specialize in this subject. If you need our professional assistance with this, please feel free to book a Professional Consultation as the very first step and we will go through your case in detail to be able to guide you in the right direction. We typically take complete legal representation for our clients, draft the legal response and submit the same to the IRCC - all from our side - to give you complete peace of mind.
Some of the real-life examples of the Procedural Fairness Letters
Situation 1: The client failed to declare previous visa refusals
Wordings of the PFL: “I have concerns that you have not fulfilled the requirement put upon you by section 16(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which states:
16(1) A person who makes an application must answer truthfully all questions put to them for the examination and must produce a visa and all relevant evidence and documents that the officer reasonably requires.
Specifically, I have concerns that you have misrepresented your immigration history. When asked if you have been refused refugee status, an immigrant or permanent resident visa (including a Certificat de Sélection du Québec [CSQ] or application to the Provincial Nominee Program) or a visitor or temporary resident visa, for Canada or any other country or territory, you responded negatively. System records indicate that you have previously been refused a visa. When you signed the IMM 5669, you declared that the information you have given is truthful, complete and correct. This had diminished the overall credibility of your application.”
Situation 2: The officer believes that the marriage was not genuine
Wordings of the PFL: “I have determined that you may not meet the requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act because you do not appear to meet R4 or A16.
The Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations state, in section: R4 R 4. (1) For these Regulations, a foreign national shall not be considered a spouse, a common-law partner or a marital partner of a person if the marriage, common-law partnership or conjugal partnership
(a) was entered into primarily to acquire any status or privilege under the Act; or (b) is not genuine.”
Situation 3: Spouse is not considered as a member of the family class
Wordings of the PFL: “Section 117(9)(d) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations states that a “foreign national shall not be considered a member of the family class by their relationship to a sponsor if...the sponsor previously made an application for permanent residence and became a permanent resident and, at the time of that application, the foreign national was a non-accompanying family member of the sponsor and was not examined”.
Your marriage certificate indicates that you and your sponsor were married on 30 November 2022. Your sponsor became a permanent resident of Canada on 05 May 2023. You were not declared or examined as a family member of the sponsor at the time of your sponsor’s application for permanent residence in Canada. You are therefore not a member of the family class.”
Situation 4: IELTS is fake
Wordings of the PFL: “I have reviewed your application and documents you submitted in its support. I have concerns that you have not fulfilled the requirement put upon you by section 16(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which states:
16(1) A person who makes an application must answer truthfully all questions put to them for the examination and must produce a visa and all relevant evidence and documents that the officer reasonably requires.
Specifically, I am concerned with the authenticity of the IELTS test you provided.”
Situation 5: Intent to reside outside of Quebec
Wordings of the PFL: “To qualify as a member of the Canadian Experience Class, all applicants must intend to reside in a province other than the province of Quebec. Upon review of your application and submissions, it appears that you were residing in Quebec from 2017/08 to 2020/12. I also note that your Letter of Employment states you currently work for the same employer in Quebec as a remote worker but does not state your work location. I also note that your current address listed is the same as your Canadian sibling. Therefore, I have concerns that you do not reside outside of Quebec.”
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My study permit is refused? what should I do?
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If your Canada study permit is refused and you’re wondering what to do now, you have reached the right place.
Traditionally, we would request a GCMS notes (also known as officers’ notes or comprehensive case notes) to get to know the real reason for the refusal before proceeding with the re-application process, but at the time of writing this blog, the average processing time for a GCMS notes is close to three months, and majority of you would not have that much time!
If time is at a premium, we would strongly advice you to come for a Professional Consultation, without waiting for the GCMS notes, for us to comprehensively review your case (by properly evaluating all your documents as well as your previously made application) to guide you with respect to the re-application process - what to do and what not to do.
Many of you might even consider to send a request for a reconsideration, and we strongly advice not to do that as a reconsideration simply does not work! Hence, its a prudent idea and good practice to take advantage of a formal legal process such as a re-application, that has a much higher potential to work.
However, please do not re-apply without understanding why the application was refused because the more number of rejections that you face, the more difficult it may become for you to ever get a Canadian visa.
We at Nuvonation specialize in the study visa re-application process and regardless of which country you’re coming from, we’re experienced enough to analyze your specific situation from a holistic perspective to ensure you’re in the safest hands. We’re super proud of the work that we do, the efforts that we put in every single case.
Along with this blog post, you’ll find these YouTube videos helpful too. Also, if you are confident in handling the reapplication by yourself but need us to review your SOP and literally guide you during the call itself to write a perfect SOP, Study Permit SOP Review Consultation by Mr. Niladri Mukherjee, RCIC is probably a perfect opportunity for you.
For our professional assistance, please feel free to directly schedule a Professional Consultation, we’d be glad to assist.
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How do i move to toronto?
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This is probably the most common question that we get :) Folks from all around the world are looking to immigrate to Canada but they have either Toronto or Vancouver or Montreal in mind. Which is perfectly fair.
But, the immigration landscape in Canada is so very complex these days that its probably the high time we start thinking a little differently. Instead of targeting specific cities or provinces for that matter, one should try to “immigrate” first through whichever way that works best for them and just in case you do not like the province or the city you end up immigrating to, you can always move between provinces at your wish.
Often time, we are asked: do I need to mandatorily stay in the province for a certain period of time before changing the province? It always is a good idea to contribute to the economic development of the province that has nominated you, but at the same time, you can always move between provinces any time without any restrictions. So if, for example, Alberta has nominated you and you do not like the province after spending maybe a month or two, you can always move to Toronto or Vancouver whenever you like!
The very moment that you step into Canadian soil, you are being protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and one of the fundamentals that the Charter guarantees is your “freedom of movement”.
Hence, it is extremely important in today’s date is to take a holistic approach without focussing on one or two very popular cities. In the end, you are immigrating to a country, not to a city or a province. And, this logic is applicable even if you are coming from a provincial nomination.
If you need us to discuss your immigration or temporary residency options in detail, please free to schedule a Professional Consultation, and we would be happy to review it for you.
Thank you.