Four leading immigration consultants who teach in the Queen’s Law Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law program will soon be guiding their peers on how to evolve their practices and expand their opportunities. Tiffany Chi, Peter Veress, Kim K.C. Ly, and Rupali Gulati will be participating in the 2021 National Citizenship & Immigration Conference (NCIC) on Oct. 28 and 29. 

“The Graduate Diploma’s instructors are a “who’s who” of this country's leading practitioners in the immigration sector – both lawyers as well as regulated immigration consultants,” says Professor Sharry Aiken, the program’s Academic Director. “The fact that several instructors currently teaching in the Graduate Diploma are featured speakers at the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants’ national conference this month is a testament to their national profiles and expertise.”

Covering subjects from economic recovery and employment to family matters, the four experts discuss the importance of their conference topics, as well as what they like best about teaching Graduate Diploma students at Queen’s.

Tiffany Chi, who develops Graduate Diploma courses and teaches Immigration Practice Management, is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) with J. Kenney Consulting Ltd. in Vancouver. At the conference, she will be discussing immigration processing and COVID-19 updates, and facilitating a Q&A with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). “Since the beginning of COVID-19, IRCC has had to adapt quickly to new measures, which allowed them continue serving the public in terms of application processing, intake, and more importantly, to address the economic and labour market needs of Canadian businesses, foreign workers and students in Canada,” she explains. “At this time, it is difficult to confirm when and if IRCC will ever return to its pre-COVID19 program delivery processes, so it’s important for practitioners to become familiar with the new processes that were introduced during the pandemic.” 

About her dual role with the Graduate Diploma, Chi says, “Being a course developer is incredibly rewarding. As a front-facing instructor, I especially appreciate when students challenge me by giving me different perspectives on assessments, reading material, and activities.” 

Peter Veress, instructor of Immigration Practice Management, is President of Vermax Group, a full-service immigration consulting firm in Calgary. His first of three NCIC appearances will be as moderator of the pre-conference that kickstarts this year’s theme of innovation, invention, reinvention, adaptation, embracing, technological change in immigration. 

Next, he will present “Foundations of a Business File: Your Essential Resource Framework,” a session on asking the right questions, knowing the next steps, and the importance building a resource network to support the client’s business undertaking. “This is a discussion about the essential resource framework RCICs need to enhance their client’s chances of meeting their business objectives post pathway determination,” he says. “This is important because it is one thing to identify the business immigration strategy best suited for the client, but a secondary and equally important step is assisting the client in creating the infrastructure required for the business to be successful and thus support the client financially as well as the immigration pathway chosen.” 

Third, Veress will be moderating “The State of the Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs),” a session dealing with some of the thornier processing and compliance issues of the LMIA regime. “This session is especially relevant and timely in the context of the current pandemic and the effect it has had and continues to have on the Canadian labour market,” he says.

As a Graduate Diploma instructor, in addition to sharing his 32 years of experience in the immigration field with aspiring immigration consulting professionals, Veress identifies two other aspects he finds rewarding: “I get a glimpse into what the future of the profession will look like – and if this first cohort is an indication, the future of the profession is in very good hands, and most importantly, I get to make a small impact on the lives of those who will make a significant impact on other people’s lives.”

Kim K. C. Ly, Economic Immigration instructor, is the principal of her boutique immigration consultancy firm, Borders Immigration Consultancy, in London. In her first of two conference sessions, she will be moderating a panel of two IRCC Director Generals discussing the IRCC’s next steps relative to program updates, processing times, COVID impacts on operational capacity, and more. “The goal is to give us a sense of what the IRCC has planned post-COVID,” she says. 

Later, she will be a subject matter expert with Employment and Social Development Canada on a panel discussing the state of the LMIAs during both during and after the pandemic. Her focus will be on the complexities of LMIA requirements during COVID times and potential employer compliance issues. “As a practitioner, it is very important to know where the government stands on various programs to promote, attract, and retain immigrants,” she explains. “I verily believe that immigrants are the drivers of our economic recovery as they bring talent and unique skills not only to our labour market but also to our communities. This is particularly important as our population ages and our birth rates decline.”

As for teaching in the Graduate Diploma program, she says, “Since the regulation of our profession, I have pushed and advocated for strong education and strict requirements for licensure in the hopes that it strengthens our industry. I love that I get to play a role in shaping our profession and bear witness to the development of amazing cohorts of new RCICs.” 

Rupali Gulati, who teaches Ethics and Professional Responsibility, is an RCIC with Synergy Immigration Inc. in Mississauga. She will be speaking on the panel “Is there a Perfect Spousal Application? Preparing files and mitigating refusals!” 

“This topic touches in a big way upon one of IRCC's biggest mandates  – family reunification – as spousal sponsorships applications form the biggest component of applications submitted under the family class immigration program,” she says. 

For Gulati, the best part of being a Graduate Diploma instructor is “having the opportunity to serve this profession and being able to give back to this industry by way of education.” 

For more information on the conference, visit the NCIC website.