Green and Spiegel is a Canadian and US immigration law firm with over 60 years of experience working with individual and corporate clients. Mendel Green founded the firm, which is headquartered in Toronto and maintains offices throughout the U.S. in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Colorado.

The firm was designated as a Band 1 immigration law firm by Chambers Global in 2022. In 2023, they were named “Law Firm of the Year” by Bestlawyers.com, and recognized as one of Canada’s “Top 10 Immigration Boutique Law Firms” by Canadian Lawyer Magazine.

Services

Green and Spiegel handles express entries, family sponsorships, permanent residence applications, startup visa programs, and citizenship applications for their individual clients. In terms of corporate services, they help facilitate the seamless transition of temporary assignments into permanent positions. Additionally, they manage intra-company transfers for multinational corporations, or Canadian firms with global operations.

The firm is led by managing partners Stephen and Evan Green, along with partner Shoshana Green. Made up of over 40 lawyers and immigration case analysts, many of which are immigrants themselves, the team is fluent in more than 30 languages.

Reputation

Since Mendel Green started Green and Spiegel in 1962, the firm has established a reputation as thought leaders in the immigration law space in both Canada and the U.S. Their Canadian office in Toronto boasts a 4.8 rating from over 1,000 reviews, with special mention to their responsiveness–as well as their work in family and spousal sponsorships. The firm has also earned an A+ on Better Business Bureau.

Matkowsky Immigration Law is a Toronto-based law firm specializing in a wide range of immigration law matters. John Matkowsky serves as founding partner and senior immigration consultant at the firm. Earlier in his career, he was an investment manager and trader for private family trusts and large Canadian banks, eventually transitioning into helping clients through business immigration and investor programs.

Managing partner and senior immigration lawyer Sonia Akilov has previously worked at Green and Spiegel and KPMG Law, two of the country’s largest immigration law firms. She specializes in judicial review and reconsideration for applications that have been previously refused, sponsorship appeals before the Federal Court, and more. Particularly noteworthy is her victory before the Federal Court (Toki vs. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), which set a precedent for new legislation in Canada.

Services

Matkowsky Immigration Law supports their clients with both Canadian and U.S. immigration matters, specializing in difficult issues such as appeals and inadmissibility cases.

Complex immigration challenges that the firm typically handles include previously refused applications, family sponsorship and appeals, judicial review, and inadmissibility issues. Additionally, they handle more straightforward cases such as work, study, and visitor visas, as well as permanent residence and Canadian citizenship applications.

Reputation

On Google, Matkowsky Immigration Law has impressively maintained a 4.8 rating from over 600 reviews, where clients were most pleased with their study permit and spousal sponsorship services. The firm scores similarly across the board, with a 4.8 rating on TrustAnalytica, as well as a 4.8 from over 100 reviews on Facebook.

Principal lawyer and founder Mario Bellissimo is a Certified Specialist in Citizenship and Immigration Law and Refugee Protection. Passionate about educating the public, he often appears as a regular commentator on radio and television. He’s also published a series of legal publications such as a practical guide to Canadian citizenship and inadmissibility law for corporate immigration practitioners.

Bellissimo’s work has been at the forefront of groundbreaking initiatives in immigration law. For instance, he was instrumental in challenging Canada’s medical inadmissibility system to advocate for a fairer national Medical Public Policy that strikes a balance between safeguarding public health, as well as upholding international human rights standards and Canadian Charter values.

Services

Bellissimo Law specializes in Canadian citizenship, immigration, and refugee law. The firm handles hundreds of files every year, supporting clients at all stages of the immigration process. Founder Mario Bellissimo also offers pro bono legal services to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto and Pro Bono Law Ontario.

The firm deals with urgent cases such as representing clients in Federal Court and refugee protection, as well as more complex inadmissibility cases related to medical, criminal, or financial issues. They also deal with more straightforward cases such as permanent residence, temporary residence, and citizenship applications.

One of the firm’s success stories include challenging a refused temporary resident visa (TRV) application in the Federal Court of Canada. The client’s application was remitted for a fresh review with the chance to resubmit additional documents, and the TRV was ultimately approved.

Reputation

With 45 years of combined experience, Bellissimo Law Group has earned a 4.8 rating on Google from 448 reviews, with special mention for their work on medical inadmissibility cases. The firm also has a 4.7 rating on TrustAnalytica, with the majority of reviewers “highly recommending” the law firm to others, and a solid A+ rating as an accredited business on Better Business Bureau.

Canadim is a Montreal-based full service immigration law firm specializing in permanent residence, work, study, or visit visa applications.

Armed with 20 years of experience, the firm is led by founder and managing partner Renaud Dery. He has a Master’s degree in law from King’s College London, is a certified Canadian Immigration Lawyer, and a Quebec Bar Association member.

Services

Dery’s firm is made up of immigration associates, a case manager, and a temporary residence specialist that handles work and study visa applications, spousal open work and LMIA permits. Made up of immigrants themselves (or the children of immigrants) the team can empathize with the struggle and aspirations of their clients who seek a better life in Canada.

The firm’s various departments include: express entry, an international student program, family sponsorship, and business immigration. They also specialize in Quebec immigration cases, given that the province manages independent immigration programs separate from those of other provinces.

Canadim also represents clients in terms of inadmissibility issues, and takes on humanitarian and refugee sponsorship cases.

Reputation

Since the firm opened their doors in 2001, Canadim has been known to successfully help their clients reach their permanent residency goals. Special mention for their permanent residence services on Google has earned them a 4.7 rating from 557 reviews, while clients also praised Canadim’s case managers for professionalism and attentiveness. The firm also boasts a 4.8 rating on TrustAnalytica.

The Law Office of Matthew Jeffrey is a Toronto-based firm specializing in every facet of Canadian immigration law. Jeffrey’s team specializes in permanent residence applications, work permits, visitor visas, citizenship applications, family sponsorships, humanitarian and refugee cases.

Matthew Jeffrey earned his degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, and has been certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Specialist in Immigration Law. Certifications by the Law Society of Ontario, the province’s legal regulatory body, require lawyers to uphold a high standard of professionalism in their practice and have more than 7 years of experience.

Services

The firm’s diverse collective of lawyers, consultants, and paralegals can tackle a broad spectrum of immigration matters ranging from straightforward to more complex cases. For example, they can represent their clients in Canadian immigration tribunal and court matters, running the gamut of refugee claims, judicial reviews, and Federal Court appeals.

Jeffrey’s office does extensive due diligence when choosing cases to work on. Client pre-screening includes an in-person consultation, assessment forms, and email questionnaires. The firm only accepts cases that have a strong likelihood of success, and are honest and transparent with prospective clients if they feel their case is unlikely to succeed.

Reputation

Armed with 20 years of experience in immigration law, Matthew Jeffrey and his team have helped thousands of clients in their decades of practice. The firm boasts a 4.8 rating on Google from 297 reviews, with clients praising the firm for their professionalism and expertise, and also has an A- rating from Better Business Bureau.

Larlee Rosenberg is a Vancouver-based immigration law firm that works with both corporate and individual clients.

The firm’s co-founder and managing partner Ryan Rosenberg specializes in supporting local and multinational corporations in key employee transfer, and has a lot of experience working with clients in the engineering, natural resources, e-commerce, and civil infrastructure spaces.

Services

As a part of the corporate immigration services that they offer, Larlee Rosenberg works with general counsel offices and HR departments on permanent residence and citizenship applications for long-term employees. Additionally, they help contractors and business visitors with short-term entry into Canada, and offer guidance to employees that face inadmissibility issues.

When working with individuals and families, the firm’s expertise ranges from helping clients obtain work or study permits, permanent residency applications, family sponsorship, and visa applications for investors and entrepreneurs.

They also offer litigation services, whether it’s appealing permanent resident status loss, judicial review applications that appear before the Federal Court, criminal inadmissibility, and more.

Reputation

Founded in 1993, Larlee Rosenberg brings decades of combined experience to the table–earning a 4.8 Google rating from 123 reviews, as well as a 4.9 from TrustAnalytica. Their clients praise the firm especially for their permanent residence and work permit services, as well as their knowledge and expertise on the complexities of immigration law.

Ackah Law is a Calgary-based boutique law firm with offices in Vancouver and Toronto, bringing 50 years of corporate and personal immigration experience to the table.

Founder and Managing Lawyer Evelyn Ackah began her career as a commercial and corporate lawyer on Bay Street in Toronto, eventually transitioning into business immigration law. With a foundation in corporate law, she’s well-prepared in assisting clients strategically – especially those seeking to invest or establish new corporations in North America.

Ackah is committed to philanthropy, and has fundraised millions for low-income women and their children. She also regularly shares her legal expertise with other practitioners as a conference speaker and writer.

Services

On the corporate end, the firm’s expertise covers permanent residence applications, temporary foreign worker visas, cross-border immigration business between Canada and the US, as well as business travel and immigration.

As for personal cases, they help with Canadian citizenship applications, study permits, family and spousal sponsorship, as well as inadmissibility issues and waivers. The firm offers flat fee pricing for their services, and promises 24/7 support to their clients.

Reputation

With 50 years of combined experience, Ackah Law sports a 4.8 rating from 142 reviews on Google where clients are especially pleased with the competency of the entire team. The firm has also earned a 4.7 rating on TrustAnalytica, as well as an A+ on Better Business Bureau.

Cohen Immigration Law is a Montreal-based firm founded by the late David Cohen. He launched Canadavisa.com and its related publications and communities, and was the first to leverage the Internet to help the general public with their immigration issues. Cohen started his practice four years after graduating from McGill University, and dedicated his 45-year career to helping his clients reach their immigration goals.

Services

Cohen Immigration Law is made up of a team of 60 that offers guidance to clients looking to acquire a Canadian visa for either temporary or permanent entry into Canada.

Their team of senior attorneys help clients with express entry, family sponsorship, study permits, work permits, business immigration, and addressing inadmissibility issues.

They’re also known as Canadavisa.com, which was launched as a digital resource and discussion forum on Canadian immigration. The firm is also behind immigration news outlet Cicnews.com. Today, the platform is a source for Canadian immigration news and a flourishing online community with millions of views.

Reputation

With 45 years of immigration expertise under their belt, Cohen Immigration Law has a 4.6 rating from 391 reviews on Google, with their responsiveness over email and supportive case managers receiving special mention. Canadavisa.com, the firm’s online community and resource hub, has earned a vast following of 3.7 million on Facebook due to their consistent publishing of helpful immigration-related content.

Waldman & Associates is a Toronto-based law firm that specializes in immigration and refugee law. Lorne Waldman, the firm’s founder, has practiced immigration and refugee law for over 40 years. Serving as an adjunct immigration law professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, where he also earned his degree, Walman teaches in a similar role at the University of Ottawa. Additionally, he holds a Masters of Laws degree from the University of Toronto.

In terms of accolades, the Canadian Bar Association gave Waldman a Lifetime Achievement Award for immigration law in 2015, and he was also named to the Order of Canada in 2017.

Services

While they are well-versed in complex cases, and regularly receive referrals from other consultants and lawyers, Waldman also helps clients with more straightforward cases such as visa applications.

Besides helping individuals and families navigate application processes, the firm also represents them in hearings before the Federal Court and the Immigration and Refugee Board. They help their clients prepare for immigration authority interviews as well.

Their multicultural team speaks French, Spanish, Hindi, Punjabi, Russian, Japanese, Urdu, and Ukrainian, and works with interpreters to ensure their global client base gets the comprehensive support they need.

Reputation

Led by a seasoned lawyer that has practiced immigration and refugee law for over 40 years, their clients praise them for delivering successful outcomes on complicated and challenging cases. The firm has earned a rating on Google of 4.3 from 75 reviews.

Sherritt Greene is a Calgary-based immigration law firm with 60 years of combined experience. Headed up by senior partners Michael Greene and Michael Sherritt, the firm was also named by Canadian Lawyer Magazine as a top immigration law boutique for 2022-2023.

Greene brings 30 years of immigration law experience, representing both individuals and corporate clients, and is a Refugee Law instructor at the University of Calgary. Sherritt has practiced immigration law for more than 30 years, and works with multinationals and small companies that need help securing permanent resident status for overseas staff relocating to Canada. Sherritt is dedicated to refugee protection, and is well known as an advocate for seemingly hopeless cases.

Services

Their practice areas cover permanent and temporary residence, citizenship, immigration litigation, refugee protection, and they also work with employers interested in employing foreign workers.

As they are based in Alberta, Sherritt Greene has a deep understanding of the local market. They bring highly specialized knowledge of the province’s petroleum industry, which proves valuable to any of these companies when relocating foreign personnel.

The firm also represents their clients before the Federal Court, the Immigration and Refugee Board, and the Federal Court of Appeal and helps clients prepare for interviews and deal with refused applications.

Reputation

Since opening their doors in 1998, Sherritt Greene has established their presence in Alberta as dedicated immigration lawyers with local market expertise. With a rating of 4.5 from 60 Google reviews, clients come to them for their professionalism, their work on permanent residence applications, as well as family sponsorship cases.

McCrea Immigration Law is a Vancouver-based immigration law firm with over 30 years of experience working with both individual and corporate clients.

Founding partner Dennis McCrea retired in 2020 after a 45-year career, but the firm’s partners Deanna Okun-Nachoff, Meika Lalonde, and Ryan Neely are carrying on his legacy.

Services

Okun-Nachoff specializes in medical inadmissibility and immigration litigation before the Federal Court and the Immigration and Refugee Board, while Lalonde and Neely focus on corporate immigration, work permits, skilled permanent residence, and citizenship applications.

Their services for individuals encompass working holiday permit applications, permanent residency or citizenship cases, and assisting clients facing inadmissibility issues.

As for their work with corporations, they handle cases ranging from simply applying for business visas, to offering more complex services such as developing a compliance and risk management strategy for businesses that hire foreign workers.

Reputation

Since founder Dennis McCrea (retired in 2020) started McCrea Immigration Law in 1979, the firm has built a reputation for offering strategic and thoughtful advice to their clients. They boast a 4.8 rating on Google from 48 reviews, with a special mention to McCrea’s permanent residence support services–and earned a 4.9 on TrustAnalytica.

Gomberg Dalfen is a Montreal-based immigration law firm founded by a pair of lawyers with commercial law backgrounds. The firm’s expertise is in corporate immigration law, although they do represent individuals as well.

Services

The boutique law firm helps both corporate and individual clients with the full spectrum of immigration issues. Founding partner Avi Gomberg earned his law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and specializes in connecting Canadian employers and multinational corporations with foreign individuals, specifically executives, skilled professionals, and businesspeople. He has amassed 30 years of experience in the field, and is an active speaker on immigration law at conferences.

Gomberg’s partner Seth Dalfen earned his law degrees from Mcgill University, and shares his expertise with the legal community at Canadian Bar Association-organized conferences. Like Gomberg, Dalfen also specializes in helping business executives and skilled workers immigrate to Canada, but he also handles cases in the realm of temporary employment authorization, family reunification, permanent residence applications, inadmissibility, and humanitarian cases as well.

Reputation

Since they opened their doors in 2000, Gomberg Dalfen has been dedicated to establishing a boutique immigration law firm with the same levels of professionalism found in large corporate law practices. They have a 4.9 rating on Google from 23 reviews, with clients commending their responsiveness, efficiency, and expertise.

MKS (Maynard Kischer Stojicevic) is a Vancouver-based boutique immigration law firm that specializes in immigration and citizenship law – working with individuals, universities, public and private companies, as well as non-profit organizations.

Services

The team specializes in a range of immigration matters, including business immigration and skilled work visas, family class immigration, and temporary residence applications. Their expertise encompasses a wide range of work permit and business visitor services, including Labour Market Impact Assessments, reciprocal employment arrangements, and intra-company transfers.

Additionally, they provide legal representation for clients who are facing inadmissibility hearings and appeals. This includes clients that have had their family sponsorship applications rejected, or have lost their permanent residence status. They are also able to help with complex issues such as gathering proof of citizenship through ancestral lineage, or applying for a grant of citizenship through exceptional contributions to Canada.

Reputation

With 70 years of combined experience from their team of lawyers and paralegals, MKS Immigration Lawyers has a 4.3 rating on Google from 71 reviews, with an identical score on TrustAnalytica of 4.3.

Zaifman Law is a Winnipeg-based full service immigration law firm, with a husband and wife at the helm.

Founding and managing partner Kenneth Zaifman brings more than 40 years of immigration law experience. He began his immigration law career by chance, when a client came into his office seeking a lawyer to help prevent his deportation. After starting Zaifman Law in 1986, the firm is now made up of a team of twelve, with three lawyers that practice immigration law exclusively.

Mira Thow, Zaifman’s wife and the firm’s founding partner, practices immigration and citizenship law. She advocates for clients in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board as well as the Federal Court, and also acts as an intervenor in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Services

Zaifman Law works with clients ranging from individuals that wish to travel to the U.S. for business or tourism, to more complex cases such as humanitarian and compassionate applications, appeals, and inadmissibility. On a business level, they also provide immigration services for investors, such as startup visa applications, and support for entrepreneurs and farmers.

The firm works with families to sponsor their loved ones in their permanent residence applications, supporting them throughout the document filing process, preparing for interviews, and also with any cross-border procedures. Zaifman assists their employer clients with recruitment, and helps foreign students and workers that want to work and study in Manitoba.

Reputation

Clients of Zaifman Law praise their team for efficiency and dedicated support–especially for difficult family sponsorship cases. With a Google rating of 4.1 from 84 reviews, the firm has also earned a few five-star reviews from clients on Facebook.