Answers,
plainly written.

The Initial Consultation Assessment is the only legitimate entry point to my practice. Every ICA runs as a live Google Meet video call booked through the Acuity scheduling link on this site. If you have not met me on an ICA, it is not me. I do not cold-call, cold-email, or cold-message applicants on WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. I do not reach out through agents or recruiters offering "guaranteed" approvals. I do not request documents, passports, or payments before an ICA has been booked and confirmed through the official booking system.

Assume it is fake. There are people overseas using my name and licence number to solicit clients for fees, documents, or personal information. If you were approached first — especially by phone, chat app, or social DM — do not send money, passports, or scans of any documents. Forward a screenshot of the approach to info@sjpimmigration.com and I will confirm whether the person had any connection to the practice. Legitimate outreach from this office always comes from an @sjpimmigration.com address after you have already booked a paid service.

Yes. I am a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) under number R710971. You can verify any RCIC in good standing through the CICC public registry at college-ic.ca. The name on the registry is Steven J. Paolasini.

All fees are collected in CAD through Acuity/Stripe (credit or debit card) at the time of booking or through the engagement agreement. I do not accept cryptocurrency, gift cards, international wire transfers to personal accounts, Western Union, MoneyGram, or cash paid in foreign jurisdictions. If anyone representing themselves as Steven or SJP Immigration asks for payment through any of those channels, it is a scam.

The ICA exists so I can properly evaluate your file, identify any issues that affect quotability, and produce an accurate written quote. I do not quote files I have not reviewed. This is how I maintain flat-fee predictability for roughly 95% of clients — instead of giving you a cheap lowball and surprising you later, I read your file, ask the right questions, and write you an honest quote. Fee credited toward any Representation engagement booked within 30 days.

Honest eligibility triage across every program you might qualify for, red flags identified and explained in plain English, and a written action plan you can run yourself or use as the basis for a Hawkeye Review or First Officer Engagement. You can bring up to 10 guests on the call (family, employer, business partner). A full transcript and typed notes are emailed to you within 24 hours. You can self-reschedule up to 24 hours before your session without any back-and-forth email.

Yes. Most sessions run over Google Meet and clients regularly join from the US, the UK, the Gulf, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Availability is built for Toronto time (Tue–Thu 8:30am–9:00pm, Sat 9:00am–3:00pm) so the evening slots are designed for applicants who cannot easily take time off during the work day.

Yes. Recording is permitted for your personal reference and not for distribution. You also receive the full transcript and typed notes within 24 hours regardless, so you are never relying on memory.

A Hawkeye Review is not a longer ICA. It is a fundamentally different service. Before your session, you upload your documents to a dedicated shared Google Drive folder and I review them on my own time before the call begins. When the session starts, no time is wasted on orientation — the entire two- or three-hour block is spent on tactical, file-specific guidance using a three-monitor workflow with your passport, forms, and supporting documents open simultaneously. You leave with an auto-generated checklist built from the session transcript and a clear path to submission.

A Hawkeye Review is one and done: one prepared session, no follow-up, no document review after the call. That boundary is what makes the Hawkeye Review tier affordable. First Officer Engagement is for files that do not fit one session — applications with moving deadlines, medicals, biometrics, employer correspondence, and document collection happening all at once. First Officer Engagement gives you a fixed window (30 or 60 days) with multiple live sessions, async Loom responses, and ongoing document review through a shared Drive folder.

Yes, through hourly firm-time work or under representation. Reconsiderations, responses to procedural fairness letters, and Federal Court judicial review prep (in coordination with counsel) do not fit flat-rate pricing, so they are billed at $400/hr in 15-minute increments with an ICA and engagement agreement in place first.

Not currently. The practice focuses on Economic class immigration (Express Entry, Start-Up Visa, PNP), Family class sponsorships (spousal and common-law), Temporary Residence files, and vulnerable worker cases. Parent and grandparent sponsorships and refugee claims are not part of the current service menu.

Fee credited toward any Representation engagement booked within 30 days.

ICA fees are non-refundable once the session has been delivered but can be rescheduled with 24+ hours notice. Hawkeye Reviews are non-refundable once delivered; cancellations more than 24 hours before the session receive a full refund, and within 24 hours only rescheduling is available. First Officer Engagement packages follow milestone-based refund logic with pro-rata refunds on unused live sessions and async responses if you cancel within the engagement window. Full terms are in the engagement letter provided at booking.

All client files are held under solicitor-client equivalent confidentiality. Documents live in dedicated client-specific Google Drive folders with restricted access. Notes and transcripts are stored in encrypted storage tied to the practice, and nothing is ever shared with third parties without explicit written consent.

Simple questions within roughly 90 days of your session are usually answered without charge as a practice habit. These sit on a best-efforts basis, lowest priority behind active files, with no guaranteed turnaround: we’ll try, but the engagement has ended and we’re no longer retained. Anything that requires new analysis, document review, or a new strategy call is booked as a new ICA or billed hourly.