Connect with us
Connect with us
Are you on the IRCC hit list?
If you fall into any of these categories:
1: Mature students
2: Nationals from Nigeria, Ghana, and other African countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia to name some; citizens from regions in the Middle-east, such as Iraq, Libya, Egypt, and Iran; expats residing in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain; as well as persons from Russia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, or even Cuba and Venezuela.
Then unfortunately yes, you are at a very high risk of being refused your visa/study permit application by the Canadian embassy, and your chances of being approved drop to 0-10%. That being said, not all hope is lost, below we will cover what to watch out for and how to be accepted to Canada EVEN if you’ve been refused before.
If you’re planning to immigrate to Canada and you’re looking for some guidance and support, you’re at the right place! We are licensed and we have successfully supported applicants from more than 47 nationalities in terms of studying in Canada, Working, Sponsorship, and Business Immigration. Get a FREE assessment, click here.
Yes, you’re worried about being refused because that’s what the embassy does in your region. This is not published, but IRCC has specific quotas per country for its overseas embassies to process approvals. They will never disclose or admit this since it would be racist and against the charter of rights & freedoms in Canada, but it’s a 100% fact. How do you end up on this high refusal region list? We call this the IRCC hit list. Typically, the country has experienced political and/or economic turmoil. Therefore, many applicants seeking asylum, who already have a visa or permit, enter Canada, and hence IRCC tightens its grip and starts refusing more applicants than approving them. That’s how you end up on this hit list.
If you’re a fresh young graduate from high school and your parents or uncle are sponsoring you, you’re fine. However, even if you’re from a region which has a good approval rate, but you’re a mature student with an education gap of 6 years or more with no travel history, you’re also on this ‘IRCC hit list’.
There are only a very few exemptions for the people who fall into these categories – whether it’s your country of origin or your age, here are the exemptions:
It doesn’t mean you’re approved automatically but you can easily be approved if you know that you can convert from inside Canada to a work permit or study permit. You just have to play your cards right since refusal is still a possibility
Basically, your study permit is guaranteed to be approved unless you are hit with misrepresentation.
You also have solid financials, assets, and income or you’re their spouse or child. IRCC likes these types of professions, especially for visitor visas to Canada for the main applicant or study permits for family members if the main medical practitioner stays back home to work. Or if you’re the CEO or other C-level position of a bank or large recognized corporation in your country or a multi-national with good documentation.
You have amazing travel history to UK/Europe/Australia/New Zealand/US
Also, if you’re a professional with a solid employment track record and have good assets. In this case, you’re not 100% exempt from refusal but your chances are much better.
If you’re interested in immigrating to Canada for Studies, Work, Sponsorship, or Business, get a FREE assessment with one of our licensed immigration consultants, we have successfully helped applicants from over 47 different countries! Fill out our form, click here.
You’re not on this exemption list, and you believe IRCC is out to get you because you were born in a “high refusal country” or you’re a mature student or any of the categories we mentioned at the beginning of this article. What do you do now and what are your realistic options?
Follow these 5 tips:
Again, you’re a mature student and maybe even from a high refusal region. You need to have Plan A / B / C ready before you submit your application to the Canadian embassy or IRCC.
You also need your lawyer ready to apply for Judicial Review, which basically means as soon as you are refused you take the case to Canadian Federal court for appeal. If your case is bulletproof, which you need to make sure of before you apply, then your chances of being successful in a JR application are good. Just because you think your application is good, or you followed the IRCC document checklist doesn’t mean that the officer is not going to find a flaw in it. You need to reverse engineer your application and have somebody else look at it before you apply. Don’t be surprised by an IRCC officer refusal on your application, surprise them when you take it to court immediately after refusal.
If you have none of the criteria that IRCC is looking for such as travel history, strong financials and assets, and income and solid employment documentation, then I’ll be honest. No Canadian lawyer or consultant can help you. Work with a reputed travel agent to start applying for Schengen visas for Greece or Cyprus and start building your travel history or even consider Australia or New Zealand. You need to start taking these baby steps BEFORE you want to play with the big leagues such as the US or Canada. This is the equivalent of trying to apply for jobs, but you have no work experience. You need to build up your work experience somehow before you apply for nice cushy jobs, maybe with lower-paying jobs, volunteer work, and so forth. This is exactly how you need to approach Canadian visa applications.
It doesn’t matter what country you’re from, if you don’t have a valid US or Canadian visa, your chances are slim unless you are going for post-graduate level studies, not college. Here are a few specifics about this ‘mature student’ scenario that we’d like to explain to you: visa exempt countries such as Mexico, Chile, Israel, and Europe are typically fine and don’t need to worry.
You have a 10-year education gap, you worked at a bank in your country, and now you’re 38 to 44 years old and want to or already applied for a study permit. Again, you need to have a travel history. Why don’t you build it up first? A packaged tour to Europe for example, or Australia? People tell us it’s costly, but it’s even more expensive overcoming a refusal or taking your application to court for appeal.
When you’re applying as a mature student – you need to keep these key factors in mind:
*Stick to graduate-level studies if you can
*Build up a recent travel history – anything past 3 years doesn’t have much weight with the embassy
*Don’t apply together with the whole family
*You need to show more than just the minimum liquid funds for your expenses and tuition. Never just depend on the minimum.
*Prove how you can make an income while you are gone. Let’s say you’re employed, but while you’re in Canada studying then you have no employment income. There needs to be a documented solution for this. IRCC officers have the right to consider ‘probable future’ income for your 2nd year of studies until your program is complete. You cannot depend on working in Canada with your valid study permit – this doesn’t count for the embassy when they review your application.
*If you’re a mature student and don’t fall under the exemption list I mentioned, have no serious assets, income, financials, or travel history. Please don’t apply. There are other solutions, you can’t force an approval. Immigration and visa applications are like a movie script, it needs to be enjoyable, entertaining, and easy to read.
If you were refused already, or you fall in these categories where you think there is no hope, or you’ve tried all this, and it still didn’t work. Well, consider this fun fact, even if you were refused 100 times by the Canadian embassy, if you apply for a PR program (i.e., Permanent Residency) then it doesn’t matter if you have a travel history, have been refused before, or have an education gap of 10, 20, 30 or 50 years. That’s the beauty of direct PR programs in Canada. The only factor that is important is that the information you put on your PR application, or any other future application matches all your previous refused application information such as your work experience, education, family composition, travel history, and of course all your refused application history with any other countries that you have applied to in your lifetime.
Do you want to become a Permanent Resident in Canada? Our licensed consultants could assess your profile against +75 immigration programs across Canada. Get a FREE assessment by filling out our form, click here.
Which programs could lead me to direct PR in Canada?
1: Buy less than 10% shares in an active business inside Canada, do an owner/operator LMIA, receive a legitimate job offer from this company since you basically just bought the shares, and apply under the Provincial Nominee Program with this offer of employment to apply for your PR & work permit at the same time. This is 100% legitimate and transparent and legal.
2: Startup Visa PR program with optional work permit
3: Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program Skilled Work Stream
4: Express Entry
5: Federal Self-Employed PR program
6: Quebec Immigrant Investor Program (QIIP) which is planning to re-open in 2023 again – and of course the most expensive program that exists.
If you need your profile to be checked against these programs’ eligibility, get a free assessment by our immigration team here in Toronto Canada, click here.
If you’re thinking about immigrating to Canada through Sponsorship, Studies, Work, or Business, you’re at the right place! We are licensed in Canada, and we help applicants like yourself and your families. Get a FREE assessment with us, click here.
