Retainerfaq – Canada Visa IN
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Set below is a list of commonly asked questions that our firm receives on a daily basis from potential clients and the answers to those questions. Additional answers concerning Canadian Immigration and Citizenship could be found on  Canadian Immigration and Citizenship FAQ page of this site.

         

1.1  How can I determine if I am eligible to become a permanent resident of Canada?

   

If you are interested in immigrating to Canada, we invite you to file our Canadian Immigration Assessment, which is designed to enable our firm to assess your qualifications for Immigration to Canada in accordance with Citizenship and Immigration Canada's selection criteria, at no charge to you. If Ambrose & Pinsky determines that we can assist you to immigrate to Canada, a member of our firm will provide you with a detailed breakdown of Ambrose & Pinsky's fees and services, via e mail. 

  

1.2  How can I retain your services?

  

Step #1:

Become informed by identifying the immigration options available to you by following the links to Canadian Immigration and Citizenship FAQ, Immigration Categories and Services.

  

Step #2:

File the assessment form by following the link to Canadian Immigration Assessment. Confirm your choice of immigration visa or authorization with our office by e mail after you received the results of your assessment.

  

Step #3:

Print out the Retainer Agreement we sent to you with the results of your assessment and fill out the blanks using your personal data. Send a signed copy of the Retainer Agreement to our office with the initial payment. Consider using 

overnight courier to expedite. We will commence work with your file after we receive a signed copy of the Retainer Agreement and the retainer fee.

   

1.3  Is it cheaper if we do it ourselves? 

  

When deciding whether to do it yourself, evaluate the importance of your immigration matter.  What's important to you are results.  No matter how inexpensive, without positive results, the outcome will be costly.  Your professional and family considerations should govern the decision immigration can determine the choice of profession and degree of success in one's professional life, as well as immigration can impact the future of immediate family and descendants for generations.  Nevertheless, we inform some of our clients that their immigration route is relatively simple.  We advise them that it is in their best interest to file the particular application on their own.

  

1.4  What are your fees?

  

The stakes are high.  Immigrating to Canada is too serious a decision to come down to a question of money. Our fees should not be the biggest issue for you. First consider whether we offer you the best chance for success and the best representation. Some clients reduce the issue down to money because they don’t know what is most important for their success. They do not understand that an applicant whose application was rejected most likely will never prove that rejection was a mistake. He or she may apply again but the new application will be stained by prior refusal. Denials are more likely the second time around. Appeals of denials are expensive and can take years. We prefer to prevent problems, not fix them. We are proactive, not reactive. Fixing a problem is expensive, difficult and often impossible. Cutting corners stimulates higher fees in the long run. Our goal is to do it right the first time, even if we have to work harder, because the stakes are high.

  

In most cases, we require a retainer for every new matter. A retainer is a form of deposit. It is placed into our trust account, in your name, and used as a credit that, in most cases, is applied to your final account. The amount of the retainer depends on the specifics of your situation. As your file progresses, we incur disbursements out of pocket expenses on your behalf. These can include registration or filing fees, fees for experts’ reports, photocopying charges, long distance telephone charges, special postage or courier fees, parking, and transportation costs. You are not charged for regular postage or local faxes. If we are required to travel out of town on your behalf, you will also be charged travelling and accommodation costs.  

  

When you retain our services, you are contracting for our time, experience, and breadth of professional expertise. Our general policy is to charge for the time we spend providing you with the services you require. Sometimes particularly for more routine work we can accurately estimate how much time will be involved in a matter. In this case, we may be able to quote you a fixed fee. We will respond to your needs promptly and efficiently.  We review our billing policies with all of our potential clients during or prior to the first contact. We encourage clients to bring up any questions about fees, invoices, or expenses, at any time.

 

   

1.5  Why to pay in advance?

   

It is common to bill in advance. It is not simply a matter of credit risk, at a small, specialized firm it is even more important. We cannot spread out expenditures over many clients. As a small, specialized firm, we are working on important business and professional matters. We are working intensively, over short periods of time, on select time sensitive matters. We are dependent on a few matters to cover our operating expenses. Advance payment avoids financing our receivables costs that would otherwise pass on to you. Advance payment represents a commitment. In many organizations authorizing a payable invokes a formal decision making process committing all parties to a course of action. Advance payment prevents delay. Immigration processing requires government fees and incidental costs which we must pay on short notice.

  

1.6  Why does Ambrose & Pinsky insist upon e mail communication?

   

We use the Internet from start of procedures to finish. We are moving to full internet representation, from initial contact with client and fee estimate on the Web, to the final e mail visa approval notification message. Time savings multiply when both our office and the client use e mail. Our office is now "paperless". All new client matters are stored digitally. Papers coming into the office are scanned, indexed and returned or discarded. We maintain reference files on an extensive intranet. This saves research time. Quick communication saves time. We use electronic mail and fax for almost all communications with clients. 

       

1.7   I have not received your assessment of my qualifications for Immigration to Canada. 

  

Only those whose qualifications for Immigration to Canada have been favourably assessed will receive a response. Those whose qualifications for Immigration to Canada have been negatively assessed and those with general/case specific questions will NOT receive a response.

   

1.8  Can I send you my curriculum vitae/résumé to assess?

  

If you would like your qualifications for Immigration to Canada assessed by our firm, we wish to advise you that we do not assess qualifications on the basis of a curriculum vitae/résumé. To have your qualifications assessed by our firm, please fill out our online Assessment

    

1.9  Can you tell me what documents I need to file in support of my Application for Permanent Residence before I become your client?

  

We are prohibited by law from rendering free summary advices/opinions to individuals, who are not our clients (i.e. who have already applied/who intend to apply for Permanent and/or Temporary Status in Canada on his/her own). Consequently, we will not be able to give you any specific advices, suggestions or opinions concerning your application until we are retained by you to represent your case. We shall be pleased to answer any and all specific questions that you might have with respect to documentary requirements if and when you become our client. We cannot, however, inform you as to which supporting documents are required from you before you formally retain our services.  

   

1.10  Do you have a branch office in my country?

  

We do not have branch offices. We effectively represent our clients from our offices here in Ottawa, Canada, through the use of e mail, fax, telephone, mail and courier.

   

1.11   Do you have a representative or agent in my country whom I can contact?

  

No, we do not have agents and no individual and/or organization is authorized to represent our interests in Canada and/or abroad. If individuals are interested in using our services, we would prefer that they contact us, directly, rather than through a third party.
   

1.13   I do not need assistance, however, I need some advice, regarding my Immigration plans.

  

You may wish to retain an Immigration Consultation.

          

1.14   Can you provide me with advice specific to my case?

  

You may wish to retain an Immigration Consultation.

 

       

       

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