Are you a government office?

The Law Office of Matthew Jeffery is a private law firm and is not a government office. While as a licensed lawyer Matthew Jeffery is authorized to represent clients before the Canadian government, including the government immigration authorities, he is not a part of the government.

The main governmental organization that controls immigration in Canada is the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). This is a federal ministry that controls and regulates most of Canada’s immigration program, including the issuance of visas to come to Canada as either a temporary resident or a permanent resident, and the issuing of citizenship.

Another government agency that plays an important role in Canada’s immigration program is the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The CBSA is a federal agency that protects Canada’s borders and ports-of-entry, as well as engaging in other security functions such as investigations into fraud or other misconduct related to immigration matters.

Each provincial government also has its own immigration department. The federal government and the provincial governments have concurrent jurisdiction over immigration, although the federal government has paramountcy. The two levels of government work together to allow the provincial governments to nominate a certain number of new immigrants each year based on their specific provincial requirements. These are known as provincial nominee programs.

Apart from federal and provincial ministries dealing with immigration matters, there are various courts and administrative tribunals that are involved in immigration matters, and these are also government entities. The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) is Canada’s largest independent tribunal, and is divided into four parts: the Refugee Protection Division, the Refugee Appeal Division, the Immigration Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division. These divisions act as courts to adjudicate various maters. As the names imply, the refugee divisions deal with refugee claims, and the immigration divisions deal with matters related to other immigrants and permanent residents. Overseeing all of these agencies are the Federal Courts, which hear appeals from the decisions of IRCC, the CBSA, and the IRB.

The role of immigration lawyers in the immigration process is to advocate on their client’s behalf before these government agencies. Lawyers can represent people involved in all stages of the immigration process, whether that be applying for a visa, responding to some concern of the immigration authorities, appearing before any tribunal or at any interview that may be held, and advocating in court.