3. Get free help from a legal aid clinic
Question and answer
Where can I get legal advice about immigration status in Canada?Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) funds legal clinics across Ontario to give free legal services to people with low incomes. At these clinics, lawyers, community legal workers, and law students help people with some immigration problems.
To get help from a legal aid clinic:
- your legal issue must be one the clinic deals with
- your income and cannot be more than a certain amount
Call your local clinic to see if they may help.
Community legal clinics people who live in their area. Search online for the clinic in your area using your postal code.
Specialty legal clinics serve specific groups, and these ones offer immigration help:
- Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples
- South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario
- Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic
- Centre Francophone du Grand Toronto
- HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario
- Justice for Children and Youth
These Toronto law school clinics help with some immigration matters:
How a legal aid clinic can help
Different clinics may help with different immigration law issues. For example, a clinic might be able to help you with:
- a
- sponsoring a
- appealing a
They can also tell you about:
- health and community services and government benefits, for example, social assistance or Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) coverage, and
- whether you might be able to get them.
Legal clinics may also give brief legal advice, called summary advice without asking about your financial situation. For example, you might be able to call a clinic for summary advice about a work permit or your status as an international student.
If your local clinic cannot help you, they may be able to refer you to someone in your community who can.