Ravi Jain is a Managing Senior Lawyer at Green and Spiegel LLP in Toronto operating under his own professional corporation. After achieving the standard law degree at one of Canada’s oldest and most prestigious law schools, he obtained a Master of Laws degree from a world-renowned “top 10” law school in the United States. Ravi is called to the bar in both Canada and the United States and is able to practice both U.S. and Canadian immigration law in Ontario. He has over 18 years of practice experience and is among a small percentage who are certified by the Law Society of Ontario as Specialists in Immigration Law. Ravi has been invited to address committees in both the Canadian Senate and Canada’s House of Commons as a subject matter expert in immigration law on several occasions. He was presented with the Diamond Jubilee Medal by command of Her Majesty the Queen in recognition of his significant contributions to Canada. Ravi has also been selected for as a leading immigration lawyer by all four of the top ranking services: 1) Who’s Who Legal for corporate immigration; 2) Best Lawyers in Canada, the oldest Canadian peer-review publication for lawyers; 3) The Canadian Lexpert Directory, which is an “acknowledgement of excellence by a practitioner’s own peers and colleagues”; and 4) Chambers and Partners, which ranks the world’s best lawyers. He has also received a very high number of positive reviews in every aspect of immigration law by previous clients (see Green and Spiegel’s google reviews).
Unlike many other lawyers, Ravi practices all aspects of Canadian immigration law. He assists clients with applications for permanent residence including: Express Entry Federal Skilled Worker and Canada Experience Class applications; provincial nominee programs including Ontario Express Entry; parental and spousal sponsorships; humanitarian and compassionate applications; PRRAs; and cases involving the business class (investors, entrepreneurs and the self-employed). He also assists with all types of work permits (including open work permits and those based on Labour Market Impact Assessments), study permits, temporary resident permits, rehabilitation and citizenship applications. As well, Ravi has an extensive litigation practice. His appeal work covers all three divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board and the Federal Court of Canada. Ravi has successfully argued many cases, particularly involving parental and spousal sponsorship, detention reviews, refugee hearings, residency appeals, deportation appeals, criminality appeals, stays and applications for leave and judicial review. Ravi has an Ontario “Foreign Legal Consultant” license approved by the Law Society of Ontario given he carries special insurance and is an Attorney who is licensed to practice U.S. immigration law through his call to the Massachusetts Bar. This enables him to represent clients in Ontario on U.S. immigration law matters. He works extensively with corporate clients in securing temporary work permits and visas to the United States. Much of this work relates to NAFTA TN and intra-company transferee applications as well as visa processing at the U.S. Consulate and U.S. Embassy. He also assists with Green Card applications.
Ravi was appointed to serve as an Executive Member of the Canadian Bar Association Immigration Law Section first serving as Secretary in 2017-2018 and then initially Treasurer until he was promoted to Vice-Chair in 2018-2019. He will serve as Chair in 2019/2020 and Past Chair in 2020-2021. Ravi’s volunteer work over these 4 years is a significant commitment. Though there are 40 other Sections, the Immigration Section typically makes up over 50% of all CBA Parliamentary/Senate appearances and meetings and almost 25% of all CBA submissions. The annual conference hosts hundreds of lawyers, judges and academics. Together with 4 other “Table Officers,” Ravi meets often in Ottawa for government meetings and the Section produces numerous submissions, appearances and meets with senior officials, MPs and Senators. Simultaneously, Ravi also volunteered for three years as an Agenda Co-Chair, responsible for the agenda and speakers for the national conference. Notably, he volunteered to co-lead CBA advocacy on non-lawyer immigration consultants.
Ravi has been a guest lecturer at Seneca College and has lectured on U.S. consular processing for the New York Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He is regularly invited to speak at national Canadian Bar Association and Human Resources Professional Association conferences. He is also an author of the book Canada-U.S. Work Permits: Issues for Human Resources Professionals (2004 Thomson Carswell) and has written numerous published articles as well.
Frequently sought out for his expert commentary in relation to immigration stories, Ravi has been interviewed by the national and international media, including: The Economist, The Times of India, The National (CBC), CTV News, CTV Canada AM, OMNI South Asian News, CFTO, Goldhawk Live (Rogers Cable 10), The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Sun, CBC Radio, India Abroad and the Indian Television Network.