Steven and Deanna dive deep into the most common reasons IRCC refuses Express Entry applications, with a focus on what visa officers determine to be insufficient reference letters.

1:00 – Correction from last episode: OINP Skilled Trades “draw” was actually a mass cancellation. Thoughts on this and Bill C-12.

10:00 – Express Entry refusals. NOC lead statements + main duties, employers not listing job duties, duties don’t match the NOC, blended NOCs.

17:00 – Should employers include percentage breakdown of duties?

26:00 – Why verbs like “assist,” “support,” “help,” or “maintain” are dangerous

27:12 – Procedural fairness: when IRCC must NOT contact you

Live Questions.

31:10 – Will CEC draws exceed 1,000 ITAs in 2025?

32:49 – Will Bill C-12 cancel Start-Up Visa and non-priority org files?

36:50 – Is IRCC looking for any reason to refuse?

37:45 – Will I get refused if my reference letter only lists 40 hours per week?

38:34 – Could Bill C-12 cancel existing PRs?

39:26 – Could TR-PR cover SUV applicants in 2026–27?

40:05 – Why are immigrants treated like clients of a company?

41:00 – Is foreign experience locked at ITA or EAPR?

42:10 – My CRS is 449 with French. Will I get an ITA in 2025?

42:56 – What if my employer refuses to list job duties?

43:15 – Will there be more education category draws?

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Canada’s new 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan is here, and it’s a lot more confusing than media headlines suggest.

This episode unpacks how the Carney government has quietly layered “one-time initiatives” on top of the official levels plan, including a massive cohort of protected persons and in-Canada temporary residents transitioning to permanent residence, and why the oft-repeated topline of 380,000 PRs is misleading once you add those extra streams.

Topics discussed also include shrinking the temporary resident share of the population, the quiet rollback of francophone immigration targets, cuts to IRCC’s budget, and the rule-of-law issues when the same legal criteria suddenly produce totally different outcomes and higher refusal rates.

We also answer live listener questions on CEC, work experience across multiple NOCs, why there aren't many ITAs, the H-1B pathway, and more.

5:05 – The “math’s not mathing”: topline 380,000 vs extra 140,000 PRs

19:00 – Temporary resident caps, extensions, and the missing data

27:26 – Francophone targets quietly reduced & what that signals

33:06 – Massive rebound of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in 2026

36:06 – H&C: 1,100 admissions and a 50-year backlog

37:35 – Budget cuts, IRCC HR reductions & shift to automation

43:04 – Potential new categories: researchers, senior managers, allied military

44:49 – Listener Q&A: is there hope for CEC? TR→PR vs CEC draws

48:02 – Are CEC ITAs being stalled to protect processing time stats?

49:16 – CEC work experience across multiple NOCs & “primary NOC” confusion

51:00 – Can wrong NOC coding sink an otherwise solid CEC application?

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Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. He previous worked as a senior strategic analyst at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

We discuss CSIS's role in Canadian immigration screening, the increase in comprehensive background checks, how CSIS and CBSA divide up security work, the Bishnoi gang, Bill C-12, delays in applications from China, mandamus and whether Canada lacks a national security culture.

05:26 – How CSIS does immigration security screening and the dramatic increase in comprehensive background checks

10:08 – Why every citizenship application goes to CSIS for security screening

15:03 – Canada’s choices: lax screening, less immigration, more surveillance… or something else?

21:16 – Delays, disenfranchisement & back-end vs front-end screening

31:26 – CSIS vs CBSA vs IRCC: who does what in screening?

37:00 – Security vs human rights

42:01 – International students, volume and how the system can be exploited

49:04 – Timelines, CSIS capacity, and mandamus in Federal Court

Audience Questions

54:40 – Do friends and family with extreme beliefs trigger concern?

56:47 – How common is espionage in Canada?

1:02:59 – What can be done to improve transparency?

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Deanna, Sadaf Kashfi and Caroline Senini discuss your rights and obligations at the border, the intersection of immigration and criminal law, unreasonable search and seizure, mandatory minimum sentences and the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Quebec (Attorney General) v. Senneville, and more.

Sadaf Kashfi is the founder of DMF Law, a Vancouver immigration & criminal-defence litigation boutique. Caroline Senini is a Partner at Peck and Company, where she practices in constitutional and regulatory matters, at both trial and appeal.

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Greg Chubak retired from IRCC in 2022. He was posted to South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore and the program manager in Hungary, Malaysia, Seattle, Sri Lanka and Austria.

We discuss what programs have worked and haven't over the years, applications for authorization to return to Canada, rehabilitation applications, difficult cases, what concerns Greg about the direction of immigration law. 

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Lorne Waldman, one of Canada’s most recognized immigration litigators, joins to discuss some of his most landmark cases, today’s processing and refugee backlogs, mandamus and where economic immigration policy is headed. Co-hosts Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff also field listener questions on enhanced security screening, immigration consequences of sentencing, Express Entry trends, and practical career advice for junior counsel.

Timestamps

3:12 – Maher Arar inquiry

5:41 – Niqab/citizenship-oath litigation

6:46 – Backlog cancellation class action

8:33 – Security certificates

12:13 – Pushpanathan

15:32 – Refugee health care

17:46 – The Bill of Rights and citizenship revocation

20:57 – Public opinion shift on immigration

26:49 – RPD/Federal Court backlogs and triage failures

37:07 – Federal Court inefficiencies

40:12 – Q&A: Security screening delays

49:51 – Bill C-220: should judges consider immigration consequences at sentencing?

1:00:04 – Express Entry

1:05:57 – Career advice for junior immigration lawyers

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Christian Lane is a retired Canada Border Services Agency officer whose career included serving as a Border Services Officer, Inland Enforcement Officer, Manager of Immigration Detention Operations and Chief of Enforcement & Intelligence Operations.

Topics discussed include Christian's various roles, the moral stress of immigration enforcement, whether individual officers and the agency want discretion when it comes to removals, immigration background checks and security screening, the role of CSIS vs. CBSA, and why public-safety agencies struggle to advocate for themselves.

👉 Listen/Follow. Team 10-8 Podcast, Christian's amazing podcast featuring interviews with various first responders, politicians and law enforcement officials. teamteneight.com

04:19 Christian’s CBSA start as a Border Services Officer

10:12 Jump to inland enforcement, the moral compexity of removals and the mental-health toll on officers

16:45 The role of discretion in a “no-surprises” risk adverse organizational culture

31:00 CBSA Enforcement & Intelligence Operations

36:10 Comprehensive background checks—who does what

46:00 Security screening trade-offs

53:15 Transparency & public advocacy by agencies; morale and leadership

58:00 Recommended Team 10-8 episodes

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Cory Moore is a retired Canadian Forces military lawyer who served in Afghanistan. There, he helped develop the training of female Afghan lawyers who would go on to prosecute members of the Taliban. These brave women assisted in building the country’s justice system and enforcing the rule of law, often at great personal risk. After the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021, Cory has continuously worked to bring those who can still be contacted to Canada under the Afghan special measures program, a program which the Federal Court recently described as suffering from "gross governmental negligence".

Cory in this episode shares his profound sense of Canada's betrayal of allies who placed their trust in our country, calling attention to systemic inaction and the urgent need for accountability and reform in how Canada fulfills its moral and legal obligations to those who aided its missions abroad.

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Steven and Deanna analyze the IRCC Minister’s Transition Binder (May 2025) and its implications for processing times, including extraordinary ranges for several programs. The discussion addresses potential use of Bill C-2 authorities to suspend or terminate processing, operational realities in caregiver and Start-Up Visa files, and current dynamics in Francophone pathways. A concluding Q&A covers Express Entry eligibility, quotas, and Francophone mobility.

Chapter Guide

5:37 — H&C processing time range (12–600 months)

8:12 — Start-Up Visa (420 months)

11:06 — CEC/PNP targets and provincial quota adjustments

13:04 — Bill C-2 (Stronger Border Act): scope of cancellation/suspension powers

31:03 — Live Q&A

Borderlines is a Canadian immigration law podcast hosted by Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff, providing in-depth analysis of immigration law, policy, and case law trends.

This episode contains general information only and does not constitute legal advice.

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