Episode 3: Immigration in the COVID Era: Cross-Border Travel, Application Backlogs, and Airlines.

Chantal and Cathryn welcome Stephen Green, Senior Partner at Green and Spiegel in Toronto, to discuss the fluid circumstances of Canadian immigration arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.  

In this episode, they examine the legal, social, and professional implications of constantly shifting COVID provisions on day-to-day immigration practice. Our guest and hosts shed light on the difficulties of advising clients about immigration applications and cross-border travel. They discuss the pandemic’s role as a catalyst for the technological transformation of Canada’s immigration processing system and the million applicants in the IRCC backlog.

We then dive into a discussion of the decision-making tree behind every foreign national’s entry into Canada. From airlines that implement information to Public Health that monitors vaccine requirements after arrival, will this decision-making process persist in the post-COVID era, or should it be streamlined?

Other topics include:

  • Application processing times.

  • The risks of flag-poling at ports of entry.

  • Business visitors vs. temporary workers.

  • After sales service provisions.

  • The power of airlines in the decision-making process.

In this episode’s segment of “What I Wish I Knew,” Chantal and Cathryn unpack their shared belief “Hire once and hire well.” They discuss the importance of staff fitting into the company culture and keeping morale up in the remote work environment when many employers are experiencing high rates of turnover.
 

Special GuestStephen Green is a senior partner of the Green and Spiegel Law Firm in Toronto and author of Temporary Entry into the Canadian Labour Market.