FAQ

You may apply on your own without hiring anyone to help you and your case may be approved. However, there are two serious risks of doing it this way.

First, moving to a new country is a serious matter with long term consequences to your life. If something goes wrong and your case is rejected or delayed, how serious would that be to your plans? Do you want to take this risk? We do these applications every day as our profession and so the risk of problems occurring is minimized.

Second, are you sure that you are making the best kind application for your particular situation? Do you really know the informal rules on how the system really works, not just what the government or some self-serving advisor or blogger wants you to know from their website? Do you really know all of your options? There are over 50 different types of permanent residence applications and most people (and even many advisors) don’t know them all.

There are several factors you should look at:

1. Is the advisor a qualified Canadian immigration consultant or a Canadian lawyer? There is a big difference between consultants and lawyers. (See below in the FAQ for more information on important differences between lawyers and consultants.)
2. How much experience do they have? (Mr. Goldman has 27 years of experience as an immigration lawyer.)
3. What combination of services do they offer? (Please see the page “Why Choose Us” for more information about our services.)
4. Is the advisor directly involved in your case? Can you contact the person easily? (With Goldman Associates, the answer is yes to both questions.)
5. Do you have a good personal relationship with the advisor? Do your personalities fit together well? With Goldman Associates, we want you to get a good feel of our personalities so that we can work well with you.
6. What is the reputation and the complaint history of the advisor? You should Google the advisor’s name and company to see what others say in general about the quality of services. The Better Business Bureau is a good source of unbiased information. You should also check with their regulator to see about previous complaints.

Only qualified immigration lawyers or qualified immigration consultants are authorized to represent migrants with the Canadian immigration authorities. However, there is a big difference between these two different occupations.

It is much more difficult to become an immigration lawyer than an immigration consultant. A lawyer is usually required to have a three-year undergraduate university degree before getting into law school. Then they must usually spend at least three years to get a law degree at a university. Then they must spend another nine months of practical training under the supervision of a senior lawyer. Then they must pass the extremely difficult bar admission exams. In total this usually takes seven to eight years.

By contrast, immigration consultants are only required to pass a relatively easy exam after taking a course that need not be offered at the university level and that can be done completely online or that can be done for only four hours per day for only four months.

So lawyers are required to spend at least seven years to become qualified while consultants can become qualified in under one year.

Mr. Goldman has gone through the process of becoming a lawyer in addition to getting an honors undergraduate degree (an extra year) and a Master’s degree, 2 years of an uncompleted Ph.D. plus he has over 29 years of experience as a Canadian immigration lawyer.

Mr. Goldman is responsible to the authorities for your application and all representations made and have been taking these responsibilities very seriously for the past 27 years. He personally approves all letters and applications that are submitted by our law firm.

In addition, lawyers are able to challenge the decisions of immigration officers because we are able to go to Federal court on behalf of our clients. Immigration consultants cannot take court action and are therefore much less powerful than lawyers at representing their clients’ interests if the authorities do anything unreasonable.

Our fees vary depending on the difficulty of your case but in general we try to position ourselves in the middle of the market. We have seen that consultants often charge more than we do. We invite you to compare the quality of our services and our fees with our competitors.

We travel regularly to try to meet our clients for face-to-face personal meetings. For all other times, we use email, telephone and Skype and Google Hangout video/audio calls to remain in regular communicate with you.

Whether you are interested in working in Canada, studying in Canada, investing in Canada or would just like a general idea on how to move to Canada feel free to contact us.

Definitely. Ian Goldman is routinely granted special authority by the Barreau du Québec (The Quebec Bar Association) to represent clients to the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion in Quebec. Ian Goldman represents many Quebec-bound clients with their applications, with Quebec Investor applications being a focus.

You can apply to extend your visitor visa from within Canada or you can apply for a work permit or a study permit or for permanent residence. Each one has different requirements.

You can apply for visitor status, a work permit or for permanent residence.

The best category of immigration/visa is dependent on lot of factors. Some of them includ if you have a job offer in Canada, age, education, training certificates, work experience etc. You can book a consultation with our firm and one of our lawyers will be happy to assist you.

There is no age maximum. However many programs consider your age as one factor among many. So if you are older you can compensate with some other factor, such as having a job offer or by running a business or in some other way.

Almost all immigration programs allow you to immigrate with your spouse/partner and your children under 22.

Each type of application has different income or asset requirements. Some do not have any income/asset requirements.

It depends on a lot of factors. During out consultations, many people are surprised to learn that it is not as difficult as they imagined.

Canada needs immigrants and is a land of opportunities, but just like any other place, it is not heaven. Howfver, it does have a good quality of life for most people, free Medicare, free schooling for children it is a democratic, free, open and caring society.

There are many different programs, each with its own requirements. Some programs are based on having a job offer in Canada and certain jobs or occupations are favoured over others.

Yes, you may to a different province in most cases.