What is a file takeover?
- A file takeover is when you have already submitted your immigration application, either by yourself or with another representative and you now wish to have our office take over representation of the file;
- Upon discussion with you, we will be able to determine if we are able to take over your application and what the benefits will be for you.
Why would I want to do a file takeover?
Immigration applications are often a stressful process with multiple bumps in the road, even when creating and submitting seemingly simple applications. Along the way, you might find that you want to hire a lawyer, or switch lawyers. There are many reasons this might happen, including:
- You are unhappy with your current representative;
- Your current representative is no longer able to adequately assist you and you were referred to or sought out other representation;
- You are unsure whether the application was correctly submitted or you do not know at which stage your application is at in the processing stream;
- You are in the process of preparing an application on your own and feel overwhelmed;
- You have realized that your immigration situation is more complicated than you previously thought and would like a lawyer to help you address these complications in your soon to be submitted application or your current pending application;
- Your file is processing, and you are facing unexpected challenges (no news from immigration, a residency questionnaire, requests for further documents or information, interviews, receipt of a fairness letter, etc.) and you would like guidance;
- You simply would like the security of having someone to be there for you for any future hurdles along the way to guide you and provide you with adequate legal advice.
What can we do for you when we take over your file?
When taking over submitted applications and incomplete applications, depending on your case, we may proceed as follows depending on the unique circumstances of your case:
- Contacting immigration authorities to advise of our representation and ensuring that going forward we are the ones who receive all correspondence;
- Requesting a full copy of your file (forms, supporting documents, etc.) from you, if you have kept copies;
- If you have not, we will request that you submit to us a list of all the documentation you have submitted as best as you can remember;
- Applying for an ATIP request in order to get a full copy of your file directly from IRCC or CBSA to obtain all documentation submitted as well as view notes from officers;
- Preparing a legal submission letter outlining the relevant issues and clarifying facts which may have been forgotten or not well explained;
- Submitting to you a list of documents to collect to strengthen your file which we would submit to immigration;
- Regularly following up with immigration to ensure that your file is processing correctly and updating the file when required.
Every immigration application is unique. If you are looking for new representation on your file, we would be pleased to discuss this with you and develop a strategy to ensure that your pending application is as complete as possible.
