AndyBCbound

My sentiments exactly

JonboyE

You can form a corporation a long time before you start operating a business through the corporation. This is standard practice.

They can be, but they are only employees if they carry out the duties of employees. Otherwise they remain as shareholders and/or directors.

AndyBCbound

Do you want to comment on the other paragraphs?

dylan97

jonboyE,

if you want to discuss the particulars of corporations, I would be more than happy to talk to you on business.com or something of that ilk.

many of you would know, or have heard of, a fictional character named 'where's wally'.

I find him amusing because I only spend 14 pounds and I find out where he is. When you've spent 4500 dollars and you still can't find him it's suddenly not so funny.

JonboyE

I've nothing useful to say. I can understand your concern.

As I said to AndyBCbound I understand your concern. But, worry about the things you need to worry about. Can he deliver the services he promised and you paid for, or can he arrange for someone else to deliver them to you? The rest, at this stage, is an irrelevance.

AndyBCbound

I must admit that last phrase put a smile on my facefirst time today on expats, Thanks

Rich_007

Too funny.

People, stop busting Andrew Miller's balls. He's been a staple of life on BE for longer than I have. Quit judging lest thee be judged.

Who knows, the man may be stone dead in a cold lonely bed and you're all rushing to tear him to shreds. Muppets.

R.

Rich_007

^^^ That's actually quite good for a Torontonian (OK, recent TO'er gone rootsy).

It's BC, stuff happens when it wishes to happen. Inshala, as the arabs say. That means it may or may not happen, but it's non consequential anyway.

Roll the fatty and relax, BC style. It's just a bit of cash, you could die tomorrow fat and unhappy.

R.

Paul Wildy

It looks like everyone else has contributed their 2c worth so I will too...

Andrew has over 8,000 posts on this forum. Some of them are a little abrupt (that is often his style) but the vast majority contain useful free advice which you would expect to pay at least $100/hour for otherwise. So I do think that means he deserves some slack during a difficult time - especially as far as his contribution to this forum goes. There is always the danger that when someone is a regular contributor on this forum, especially of immigration advice, that people somehow expect they must continue to be around to answer people's questions and can never take any time off!

Get well soon Andrew and (having had a health emergency myself a couple of years ago) I strongly recommend you put your health first.

But if I may offer a little advice too...

If someone has paid fees for immigration consultancy then it simply isnt acceptable to not respond to those people for several weeks (even several days) - its bound to raise alarm bells. So Andrew, get some administrative help or refer your cases to someone else for the time being while you recover. You cant just leave people dangling. If there isnt anyone in your firm that can respond to calls/emails then make arrangements for a locum/temp etc to help.

I think people are going a bit "conspiracy theory" with the whole issue over PO boxes etc - I dont think that means anything, though one of the most common reasons for incorporation is to get limited liability status, which means that in the event of a claim against the company the shareholder's personal assets are protected even if the company is wiped out. So perhaps thats why people are getting a bit jittery and a bit more explanation about the reasons (assuming it isnt to seek limited liability protection) wouldnt harm.

One thing I definitely dont agree with is the decision to abandon CSIC membership. I dont know why anyone would do that. Although the fees are over $3k per year for membership without it you are not differentiated from the so-called "ghost consultants". And as everyone else pointed out Andrew has been so vocal in advising people against using non CSIC-registered consultants. You cant blame people for being alarmed. Prior to 2004 there was really no regulation at all for the immigration consultant profession and the industry was a mess. Unscrupulous characters who had no real knowledge of immigration law were calling them Immigration Consultants, lying to clients about their chances of success, charging people for jobs etc. Although the industry still has a slightly tarnished reputation to some, The CSIC have done a great job of cleaning the industry up, ensuring Consultants adhere to stringent ethical standards, maintain proper insurance, maintaining a compensation fund for wronged clients, ensuring Consultants remain up-to-date with legislation etc. Quite simply a consultant who is not regulated by the CSIC is completely unregulated.

And I do not agree that CSIC membership is only required to represent a client before the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration - in actual fact the legislation states "no person who is not an authorized representative may, for a fee, represent, advise or consult with a person who is the subject of a proceeding or application before the Minister..." so note that it isnt just representation at Appeal, it also covers providing advice for a fee relating to an application.

The CIC website makes it clear that you must be a member of a law society or CSIC if you are providing advice for a fee. One of the reasons I am so supportive of CSIC regulation is because I am a Student-at-Consultancy Member of the CSIC (expecting to achieve full membership in January) and to date although I have provided advice to people on immigration matters I have never done so for a fee because of the legislation nor will I ever (for a fee) until I gain full membership and carry the necessary insurance etc.

Anyway, for those posters who are getting stressed because they cant get hold of Andrew I am happy to try and answer their immigration questions (obviously not relating to the status of an existing application through his firm) in the meantime if I can until he is better and up and running again. Feel free to PM or email if it isnt something you want to post for everyone to see.

AndyBCbound

Well said NSpaul i couldnt have put it better myself

AndyBCbound

Well said and I think a lot of people with agree with your comments. My wife is fortunate enough to work for a law firm here in Kamloops so they are going to help me with our PR application now since Andrew isn't responding to emails. We haven't even started our PR application as yet apart from the form filling last night. Luckily for us the immigration lawyer at my wife's firm has said to give him all the completed forms and supporting documentary evidence and he and his colleague will look over the forms and let mer have their advice or markups but like I said we are one of the lucky ones in this respect. I genuinely feel sorry for the other folk out there who have paid Andrew, like I have, and not had the service we paid for. We have also been advised by the lawyer at her firm that it is unlikely we will get a refund since CSIC probably won't be interested since he is not active member anymore I am however looking at Small Claims Court. This is all ridiculous and quite frankly Andrew is getting himself a bad name purely through his lack of response to the simplest of questions. Anyway I agree we ought to give him some slack if he is really ill then he needs time to recovery but like you say, why not pass the work to his colleagues he has three people employed for him but yet no-one answers the phone or returns emails a bit odd don't you think!!

Lagos22

First of all, Andrew, I hope that you recover at the earliest.

my views on this topic is that if I were ill, checking the forums to reply to nonsense like these would be the last thing I would do. I understand some people/clients have tried to contact him and couldn't get a hold of him or his associates. While that may be inconvienent, I am sure there is a reason behind all that which Andrew can explain at a later time whether publicly or privately of course.

The way I see it regarding CSIC is Andrew is not a member of CSIC anymore because he wants to become a boss and plans to use his employees for CSIC related stuff if indeed is ever required to do so(i.e., go to court etc). If he can provide the same level service and protection of CSIC through his employees, then why does he have to be a member? Coming from a business owner myself, I do understand cutting costs of anykind where the circumstances would allow it is the only sensible thing to do in this kind of economy especially when it seems like a valid thing to do in this case.

I have been following this forum for over a year(mostly reading through) and all I see was Andrew answering all sorts of stupid questions(including from myself) and nobody complained during those times. It is very sad to see some people react the way they did in these difficult times for a senior good standing member. I guess what he said before is true, "No good deed goes unpunished..."

PMM

Hi

I have to add something for whats it worth. CIC was in the forefront forming an association of Immigration consultants so that applicants could be secure in the knowledge that if their consultant "screwed up" their could have some recourse. CIC's side of the bargain was that they would not deal with consultants unless they were a member of CSIC (or a member of the bar). It didn't do away with the fly by night "consultants", but lets put some of the burden on the applicants, who didn't bother to check out whether the consultant who they paid to complete their forms and build their story was actually able to practice in Canada as a consultant.

Now CIC has taken the tack that you can pay anyone to complete and submit your application for you, but the only thing that they can't do is represent the client in front of CIC, (appeals, hearings, etc.) So as a consultant, if you don't handle appeals or hearings, why belong to CSIC? Just to pay the fees and attend the required additional training every year? Still have to respond to any complaints founded or not, while the non-member consultants can continue on their way, because no one, especially overseas is going to do a damn thing.

I am not defending Andrew, he is a big boy and look after himself, but CSIC has basically had its fangs pulled by CIC just as the law society wanted since CSIC was formed.

Hope Andrew recovers, and I wish him well in the future.

kevinm

I have read this thread and felt I may as well join in.

It seems quite clear, the people dealing with Andrew are worried and people not dealing with him are telling them to chill.

Now im sure if most people had spent over $4000 and were not hearing answers that should be quite easy to reply to, then they would also feel slightly worried.

Im sure everything is fine but I quess some communication is all that is required to clear things up.

Andrew has logged on and replied to this thread but not actually the ones addressed with the concerns

Tim Steer

I agree with Kevinm 110%. It is easy for individuals to say that Andrew has given lots of free advice on this forum, and I don't think anyone has disputed that. Whilst some may not like his tone, his support of this forum and free advice cannot be faulted.

However, for those people who have actually employed Andrews services and have not had any commication from his company in 3 weeks or more, despite trying to contact other individuals in the company and leaving numerous voicemails, I can completely understand their concern and frustration and would feel the same.

For anyone who says they should just "chill out", consider how you would feel if you received your 90 day update letter and had been collecting up your documents but needed to ask questions of your consultant? With the holiday season looming, needing to get all your docs together and then sent to your consultant in Canada for review, and then sent back to CHC London all before the holidays..It is a very stressful time and I fully understand their concerns and think that it is only fair that we respect how they feel...

As with most controversial threads there have been some ludicrous posts by some individuals who just want to inflame and wind others up. But it also speaks volumes that those individuals who have expressed a genuine concern because they are in this difficult situation have remained respectful and polite.

It seems that Andrew has been seriously ill and I would not wish that on anyone and I wish him all the best and a speedy recovery but as others have said..This thread has only come about due to a lack of communication for an extended amount of time from Andrew and his associates and it is that concern which still remains unanswered for those involved.

We wait years going through the immigation process with small windows of increased activity, with 90 day updates being the main example...I struggle to understand how anyone can think that losing nearly one month of that 90 days should be expected or acceptable.

Speaking as someone who was also getting very frustrated, concened and thinking about going it alone due to lack of meaningful communicaton from our lawyer, I sincerely wish everyone concerned the best in whatever course of action you choose to take and hope you get your applications / updates in on time
I also wish Andrew a speedy recovering and return to form.
Cheers
Tim