Frequently asked questions

A General Consultation is C$60 for 30 minutes, held over Zoom. It is a paid, one-to-one session with Vanessa, a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC). An Extended Consultation is the same session at 60 minutes, for C$90, when one question will not cover it.

A Profile Evaluation is C$110 and is not a meeting: it is a written evaluation of your profile, delivered by email in 3-5 business days.

Other services are priced separately. Specific Document Review is C$150 (30 minutes). Application Package Review costs C$990. It includes an advance professional review of the complete application package you prepared, a written findings and correction report, and a private 60-minute Zoom meeting with Vanessa. The 60-minute duration refers to the feedback meeting — not the time spent reviewing your package. Express Entry Full Representation is C$3,500.

Book a consultation. Choose the service that fits, pick a date and time on the booking page, and pay online — the Zoom link and the calendar invite reach you as soon as the booking is confirmed.

There is no free intake. Every engagement begins with a booked, paid session, so if you are not sure which service you need, start with the General Consultation: that is the session for working out which route applies to you and what to do next.

If you have questions and are not sure what your options are, start with the General Consultation (C$60). If one question will not cover it — several pathways to compare, a refusal to work through, a spouse and children in the plan — choose the Extended Consultation (C$90) for a full hour.

If you would rather have your options in writing than talk them through, choose the Profile Evaluation (C$110): a written evaluation of your whole profile, delivered by email in 3-5 business days, with no meeting.

If you have already written a document and want it checked, choose Specific Document Review (C$150). If you have assembled a full application package yourself and want it audited before you submit, choose Application Package Review (C$990): Vanessa reviews the complete package in advance, sends you a written findings and correction report, and explains it in a private 60-minute meeting. If you want Vanessa to handle an Express Entry application end to end, that is Express Entry Full Representation (C$3,500).

If you are still unsure, start with the General Consultation — that is the session for working out which route and which service fit your case.

Yes. Vanessa speaks Portuguese, English and French, and consultations can be held in any of the three. This website is available in English and Brazilian Portuguese.

Pick a service page, choose an available date and time, fill in your details, and you will be taken to Stripe to pay by card. Payment confirms the booking.

As soon as the payment clears you receive a confirmation email with a Zoom link and a calendar invitation. If you do not see it, check your spam folder before contacting us.

Yes. Vanessa Constantino de Almeida is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC), licence number R711574, regulated by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC), and a member in good standing of the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants (CAPIC). She holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Canadian Immigration Law, Process and Procedures from the University of British Columbia.

You can verify any consultant's licence directly on the CICC public register at college-ic.ca.

All consultations are held over Zoom, so you can attend from anywhere in Canada or abroad. Your Zoom link is included in the confirmation email you receive after payment.

General Consultation fees are non-refundable. However, if you are unable to attend your appointment, you may contact us in advance to reschedule it for another available date and time.

Every case is different. We recommend booking a General Consultation so we can review your immigration history, current status, professional and educational profile, and potential pathways. Based on this assessment, we can develop a personalized strategy that meets your needs and helps you maintain legal status in Canada whenever possible.

Restoration of status is the process of asking IRCC to restore your temporary resident status after it has expired. In most cases, you must apply within 90 days of losing your status and continue to meet the requirements of your stay.

You may remain in Canada while the application is processed, but you generally cannot work or study until your status has been restored and a new permit has been approved. Restoration is not guaranteed, so it is important to seek professional advice as soon as possible.

Generally speaking, a Bridging Open Work Permit (BOWP) may allow certain permanent residence applicants to continue working in Canada while IRCC processes their PR application.

You may qualify if you are the principal applicant, are living in Canada, have submitted a complete application under an eligible permanent residence program, received your Acknowledgement of Receipt (AOR), and hold valid status, maintained status, or are eligible for restoration.

Creating an Express Entry profile or receiving an Invitation to Apply is not enough—you must have submitted the complete PR application. Provincial nominees may also have additional restrictions. Book a General Consultation so we can confirm your eligibility and the appropriate timing for your application.

The best option depends on several factors, including your current work permit type, immigration status, occupation, employer, eligibility for an LMIA exemption, and long-term immigration goals.

In some cases, extending the current permit may be possible; in others, a new LMIA-supported application or a different pathway may be required. Book a General Consultation so we can review your circumstances and provide accurate, personalized advice.

A PGWP does not automatically lead to permanent residence. To qualify through Express Entry, you generally need eligible skilled work experience, valid language test results and a competitive Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score.

Many PGWP holders qualify through the Canadian Experience Class after gaining at least one year of eligible Canadian work experience. You must then create an Express Entry profile, enter the pool, receive an Invitation to Apply and submit a complete permanent residence application.

Your occupation, language scores, education, foreign work experience and timing can significantly affect your eligibility and CRS score. Book a General Consultation so we can assess your profile and develop a personalized permanent residence strategy before your PGWP expires.

You may increase your CRS score through better language results, additional work experience, education, your spouse’s qualifications, or a provincial nomination. Book a General Consultation so we can review your profile and identify the most effective strategy for you.

If your spouse or partner is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, they may be able to sponsor you from inside Canada. However, sponsorship does not automatically authorize you to work. You may qualify for an open work permit after submitting the PR application and meeting specific requirements. Book a General Consultation so we can confirm your eligibility and plan the correct strategy.

Maintained status may allow you to remain in Canada while IRCC processes an extension application submitted before your current status expires. Whether you can continue working or studying depends on the type of application and the conditions of your previous permit. Book a General Consultation so we can confirm how maintained status applies to your case.

There is no single universal timeline. IRCC publishes its own estimates per application type and, for many streams, per country — and those estimates change often and are not a guarantee.

The processing clock starts the day IRCC receives a complete application: the day you submit if you applied online, or the day it reaches the mailroom if you applied on paper. IRCC's published estimates already include the time needed for biometrics.

Always check the official tool on the day you need the answer: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html

No. IRCC itself lists several ordinary reasons an application runs past the published estimate: the volume of applications received, additional background or security checks, a request for further documents, and the complexity of the individual case.

A delay is not a signal about the outcome. If IRCC needs something from you, it will ask — which is why keeping your contact details current and answering requests quickly matters.

Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html

No. IRCC states plainly that phoning them does not make an application move faster.

What does affect timing is the quality of what you submitted: incomplete applications can be returned or delayed, and missing documents, unpaid or incorrect fees, biometrics not given, and slow replies to IRCC requests are among the most common causes of both delay and refusal.

Your UCI — Unique Client Identifier, sometimes called a client ID — is an 8- or 10-digit number that identifies you as a person in IRCC's system. It stays with you. If this is your first ever application, you may not have one yet.

An application number identifies one specific application. You keep the same UCI across every process you ever file, but each application has its own application number.

A visitor visa — also called a Temporary Resident Visa or TRV — is a travel document. It goes in your passport and it is what nationals of visa-required countries use to travel to Canada.

A visitor record is issued from inside Canada. It extends or modifies your stay once you are already here. It is not a travel document and it will not get you back into the country.

No. As a rule, you need one or the other, not both. Which one depends on your nationality, the travel document you hold, and how you are travelling to Canada.

No — neither one is. A study permit authorises you to study in Canada and a work permit authorises you to work, but neither replaces the visitor visa or eTA you need to actually travel to Canada.

In practice this matters when you leave and want to come back. When a work permit is approved, IRCC will normally issue the corresponding travel document at the same time where one is needed, without a separate fee for it.

An open work permit is not tied to one employer. As a rule, it lets you work for any eligible employer in Canada.

Most work permits are not open. The majority are employer-specific, meaning they name the employer — and often the role and location — you are authorized to work for. Only certain categories are issued as open work permits.

The difference is whether you applied before or after your current status expired, and it changes what you are allowed to do.

Maintained status applies when you submitted your new application BEFORE your current permit expired. You may generally remain in Canada while it is decided, and in many cases keep working under the same conditions as your existing permit.

Restoration is what you apply for AFTER you have already lost status. It does not carry the same automatic rights — notably, IRCC states that once you lose status you must stop working and apply for restoration if you are eligible.

This is one of the most consequential distinctions in temporary residence, and the deadlines are unforgiving. If you are near either line, get advice about your specific case rather than relying on a general answer.

It is a common idea, and it is often misunderstood. Moving to visitor status can keep you in Canada lawfully for longer — but IRCC is explicit that, once your current permit has expired, switching to visitor status does not buy you extra time to apply for a new study or work permit from inside Canada.

In other words, it can preserve your presence without preserving your options. Whether it helps or hurts depends entirely on your dates and what you are trying to do next, which is exactly the kind of question to bring to a consultation before you act.

No. Express Entry is the system that manages profiles and issues invitations for several federal economic programs and part of the Provincial Nominee Program — it is not the PR application itself.

The sequence is: you enter the pool with a profile, you are scored against the other candidates, and you compete in the rounds of invitations. Only if you are invited do you then submit the actual permanent residence application.

That distinction matters because being in the pool is not an application, and a profile alone confers no status.

Alongside general Express Entry draws, IRCC holds targeted rounds for candidates who qualify under specific categories.

The current 2026 categories are:

* French-language proficiency;
* healthcare and social services;
* STEM;
* trades;
* education;
* transport;
* physicians with Canadian work experience;
* senior managers with Canadian work experience;
* researchers with Canadian work experience; and
* skilled military recruits.

A candidate whose CRS score is not high enough for a general draw may still receive an invitation through an eligible category. Book a General Consultation so we can confirm which categories apply to your profile.

Not always. It depends on the program and on your profile. Plenty of candidates are invited without a job offer, although an offer can help in some scenarios.

If someone tells you a job offer is mandatory for Express Entry, or offers to sell you one, treat that as a warning sign.

When IRCC begins processing and confirms that your application is complete, it normally sends an Acknowledgement of Receipt — an AOR — or an equivalent communication carrying your application number.

If your application is incomplete, it can be returned to you or held up instead, which is why the completeness check before submission is worth doing properly.

If you are eligible, you may currently work up to 24 hours per week off campus while your classes are in session, and unlimited hours during scheduled breaks.

Three conditions people miss: your study permit must actually carry the work condition; you cannot start working until your program has begun; and once you receive official confirmation that you have completed your program, you generally have to stop, unless you applied for a PGWP before your study permit expired.

This limit has changed more than once in recent years — confirm the current figure before you rely on it.

IRCC government fees vary by application type. Common fees include:

* Visitor visa or visitor record: **CAD 100**
* Study permit: **CAD 150**
* Work permit: **CAD 155**
* Open work permit: **CAD 255**
* Biometrics: **CAD 85 per person** or **CAD 170 per family**
* Express Entry permanent residence: **CAD 1,590 per adult** and **CAD 270 per dependent child**
* Spousal sponsorship: **CAD 1,260**, plus **CAD 180 per dependent child**

Restoration and other additional fees may apply. Fees can change, so we recommend booking a General Consultation for an accurate estimate based on your application and family composition. Current amounts should always be confirmed on the [official IRCC fee list](https://www.ircc.canada.ca/english/information/fees/fees.asp).

In most cases, yes. IRCC generally requires biometrics after you apply, and sends a Biometric Instruction Letter telling you where to go. You normally have 30 days from that letter to attend and give them.

Biometrics are already accounted for in IRCC's published processing estimates, so giving them promptly keeps your file on the expected track rather than shortening it.

As a general rule a visitor may stay up to six months, unless the officer at the border sets a shorter period — check the date on your stamp or document rather than assuming six months.

To stay longer, you must apply to extend your stay, and IRCC advises applying at least 30 days before your current status expires. Applying before expiry is what puts you in maintained status; applying after is a materially worse position.

The Post-Graduation Work Permit is an open work permit granted after you graduate from an eligible program of study in Canada. Because it is open, you can work in any occupation and change employers, subject to any specific restrictions on your permit.

Its validity depends on the length of your program and can run up to three years.

Eligibility rules for the PGWP — which programs and institutions qualify — have been revised repeatedly and are among the most frequently changed rules in the system. Confirm current eligibility before making study decisions by booking a general consultation with us.

Currently, 60 days from the Invitation to Apply to submit the permanent residence application.