After 40 Years in Immigration Law, Here's Where Canada Is Actually Headed

🔗 Book a consultation: bit.ly/3TnWt2VCanada spent the last few years bringing in people faster than ever. Now the system is contracting — and if you're a worker, an employer, or anyone with a stake in Canadian immigration, the rules you planned around may no longer apply.In this episode of Border Banter, Sonia Sidhu sits down with Stephen W. Green, managing partner of Green & Spiegel and a 40-year veteran of Canadian immigration law, to zoom out from individual programs and look at the whole system — where it's been, where it's heading, and what the current shifts actually mean on the ground.Stephen has watched immigration levels rise, fall, and rise again across four decades. His perspective reframes the current "crackdown" narrative: we're not entering uncharted territory — in many ways we're returning to levels that held for most of his career.In this episode:Why current immigration levels are closer to "normal" than the headlines suggestThe post-pandemic surge — why it happened and why it was always temporaryHow the government moves "like the Titanic": slow to react in both directionsThe Express Entry reform consultation and what category-based selection really meansWhy chasing today's in-demand occupation is riskier than it looksOntario's OINP Phase 1 redesign — the end of the old employer job offer streamsThe new Ontario Workforce Priority Stream and what changed for rural employersWhy old Expressions of Interest are being wiped, and who needs to re-registerThe single biggest red flag when choosing an immigration lawyerWhat Canada's system should prioritize over the next five yearsImportant Note: Since recording this episode, the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream process has been updated.The changes were released on July 20, so some information discussed in this episode may no longer reflect the current process. Stay tuned—we’ll be sharing a full breakdown of the new updates and what they mean in an upcoming post and podcast episode.If this episode raised questions about your own immigration strategy, book a consultation through the link - bit.ly/3TnWt2VSubscribe for new episodes of Border Banter: An Immigration Podcast