Name: Sarah Fagan
Firm/Organization: Rekai LLP
OBA Executive Title: Past Chair
Primary Area(s) of Immigration Practice: I assist small, mid-size and large businesses, including start-ups, with all of their immigration needs. This typically involves hiring foreign nationals and securing status documents for their accompanying family members, and advising on and assisting with all related matters ranging from employer compliance to criminal or medical inadmissibility issues to transitioning those individuals to permanent residence, and in some cases, citizenship. I also work with many individuals who wish to address inadmissibility, study in Canada, immigrate to Canada, sponsor family members or become citizens of Canada.
Brief Biography: I am an immigrant to Canada, and have first-hand experience with many of the applications that I now handle for my clients, in addition to adjusting to life in a new country.
I was a newly qualified Irish solicitor when I moved to Canada from Ireland in April 2009. Ireland was in the depths of the financial crisis at the time and, as a result, jobs for newly qualified solicitors (and in all sectors generally) were few and far between. I had a one-year IEC working holiday work permit, and my plan was to take a year out, spending the summer in Toronto and then heading out west to spend the winter on the slopes in Whistler, in the hope that things would improve back in Ireland during that time. I never could have imagined that my life would change as much as it has as a result of that decision.
I quickly experienced first-hand how difficult it is to secure employment in Canada as a foreign national with no Canadian work experience. I submitted over 150 résumés around the city before securing a job as a server at a breakfast restaurant. I subsequently secured short-term employment as a legal secretary at a Bay Street law firm in its corporate law department. As a result, I decided that I was going to remain in Toronto, which is a city that I have loved since I arrived here. I later transitioned internally to a role as a clerk with an immigration lawyer in the same firm, which was my introduction to immigration law. From there, I went through the process of trying to extend my work permit, which resulted in two failed LMOs and then a provincial nomination. That was a great way to learn a lot about both of those processes, even if it felt pretty trying at the time! I then embarked on the process of becoming accredited to practice in Ontario, swore my allegiance to the Queen a couple of times, and became a proud Canadian citizen and Ontario lawyer.
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