Company History – Doherty Fultz Immigration
Doherty Fultz Immigration (also known as DFI) is a Canadian immigration consulting firm with offices located in Toronto, Ontario (head office) and Ottawa, Ontario (national capital region office).
Our firm was founded in 2014 by Canadian immigration consultants Cassandra Fultz and Anthony Doherty. The firm made its home at 2558 Danforth Avenue, Suite 202 in Toronto, Ontario, at the corner of Main and Danforth, for nine years from 2014 to 2023. In 2024, the firm moved further west on Danforth Avenue to its current address at 304B Danforth – 2nd floor.
2014 – 2019
From 2014 – 2019, the firm remained small with its original members including Cassandra, Anthony, and Bonnie Tyler (currently our General Manager) as well as support staff. During this time, we focused largely on Express Entry applications (which were still new at the time), as well as humanitarian and compassionate, family sponsorship, and temporary status applications like work permits and study permits. During this time, many clients still chose to come into the office in person for face-to-face consultations and meetings, though by 2019 most people preferred to meet via video conference.
2020 – 2022
In 2020, covid-19 hit Canada and everything changed. In-person appointments at the office stopped, but work continued. Express Entry draws were put onto hiatus for over a year in certain categories, and for many months, there were no draws at all. During that time, our office focused on the TR to PR program to get permanent residence for our clients who were eligible, as well as continuing sponsorship applications, study permits and work permits, and humanitarian and compassionate files.
2023 – Present
After the covid-19 pandemic, nothing has been the same in Canadian immigration. The number of points required to receive an ITA for PR has skyrocketed, even excluding people who have been temporary residents in Canada for many years. New programs have been announced such as Category Specific Express Entry draws, and some programs have ended such as the Home Support Worker Pilot Program. In 2024 alone, substantial changes were enacted to Canadian immigration including revoking eTA privileges for Mexican citizens, forcing international students to obtain a Provincial Attestation Letter to apply for a study permit, and limitations on applying for an LMIA for smaller and newer companies.
Doherty Fultz Immigration celebrated its 10th anniversary on November 1, 2024. Some things are just the same as they were ten years ago: the team’s unwavering dedication to getting applications approved, and helping applicants achieve their goals in Canada have never diminished. Some things are completely different: it has never been more challenging to move to Canada, and it has never been more important for applicants to plan ahead for their immigration journey, taking into account all aspects of their profiles including previous refusals and outside-the-box immigration options.
Company Values – Doherty Fultz Immigration
DFI is a licensed Canadian immigration firm, which is in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. In order to maintain our ability to practice Canadian immigration law, all team members in the firm working in all areas and positions must adhere to the CICC Code of Professional Conduct.
All licensed Canadian immigration consultants, and their staff, are required to follow the code, but what makes Doherty Fultz Immigration different than other Canadian immigration firms is our absolute dedication to providing a positive client experience. Beyond the Code of Professional Conduct, DFI prides itself for being built upon a foundation of values that we believe make us more than just another immigration consulting firm. Among those values most important to us are are
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Competence
- Bravery
- Empathy
Honesty:
We will be completely candid with all applicants about their situation. We will give our best estimate on likelihood of approval or success for the application or proceeding. If the chances of success are low, we will tell you honestly. If you still want to proceed knowing the chances are low, we will give our absolute best effort to secure an approval.
Integrity:
We will be up-front with you about what to expect from us and from the immigration process from the very beginning. We will respond to your calls and emails quickly so that you don’t have to worry. We will make sure that you know everything you need to know about your process, and we will answer questions at any time along the way. You will always know the team members who are working on your file, and be able to reach them.
Competence:
Doherty Fultz Immigration has been in business for over 10 years. We have hundreds of genuine, authentic Google reviews written by real clients with a 4.8 score, and reviews going back to 2015. We have never purchased or otherwise faked any client review – every review is from a real client. We are a full service firm with a decade of experience in all areas of Canadian immigration law. The founder of Doherty Fultz Immigration, Cassandra Fultz, taught immigration law for 7 years from 2017 to 2024. She is also a regular Subject Matter Expert and contributor on Canadian regional and national media outlets. DFI has an approval rate of over 96% after having submitted just shy thousands of immigration applications.
Bravery:
The DFI team is not afraid of a challenge or a tough case. Though we help lots of individuals, families and businesses with straightforward applications, many of the clients who come to us do so because they have an immigration problem or an application which is not so straightforward. We help our clients address major challenges such as
- Procedural Fairness Letters
- Misrepresentation allegations
- Prior immigration refusals
- Returned applications
- Failure to meet the requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
- Humanitarian and Compassionate considerations
- Failure to meet the PR residency obligation
- Mandamus cases – applications which have been in process with IRCC for longer than the stated processing time
Many immigration lawyers and consultants refuse to help clients whose cases are not perfect, or who do not fit neatly into an obvious box. Even if a client’s application presents major challenges and hurdles, we will not shy away from helping just because someone has a difficult case – a tough case just makes us work harder.
Empathy:
Over 90% of the staff at DFI are immigrants themselves, including our Founder, Cassandra Fultz. None of us has ever forgotten the anxiety, fear, and uncertainty that come with moving far away from home to an unfamiliar place. Even when you have family or friends close by, it is still unsettling to have to get used to a new environment. We bring this memory with us to every case that we represent and every client who we advise.
It may seem simplistic, but at Doherty Fultz Immigration, we live by the golden rule: we treat others as we would want to be treated. We strive for every single interaction we have with a client to help them feel more at ease, more confident, and more prepared than they were before the interaction began. Our goal is that every email, every phone call, every video call, and every in-person meeting will leave you feeling better than you started.
Company Goals
- Make competent immigration advice accessible to the public
- Put our clients at ease
- Find creative solutions to immigration problems
- Make our clients happy that they chose to work with us
Areas of Immigration Expertise – Doherty Fultz Immigration
Doherty Fultz Immigration is a full service Canadian immigration firm, providing assistance and advice to clients across all areas of Canadian immigration law.
Canadian Citizenship
- Canadian citizenship through descent – children born outside Canada to a Canadian parent
- Canadian citizenship through a grandparent, great-grandparent, or prior ancestor
- Naturalization as a Canadian citizen for permanent residents of Canada
- First Canadian citizenship certificate
- Replacement of a Canadian citizenship certificate
- Canadian passport
- Renunciation of Canadian citizenship
- Resumption of Canadian citizenship
Business Immigration
- LMIAs
- Intra-Company Transferee
- CUSMA/NAFTA Work Permits
- LMIA-based Work Permits
- Temporary Foreign Worker Program
- Business Visitors
Immigration Challenges
- Appeals
- Procedural Fairness Letters
- Mandamus
- Misrepresentation
- Immigration refusals
- Returned applications
- Failure to meet the requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
- Humanitarian and Compassionate considerations
- Failure to meet the PR residency obligation
- Judicial Review
- Criminal Inadmissibility
- Temporary Residence Permit
- Criminal Rehabilitation
Temporary Status
- Visitor Visas
- Super Visas
- Fiance Visas
- Work Permits
- BOWP
- Working Holiday Visa
- Spousal Open Work Permit (SOWP)
- Study Permits
- Work Permit Extension
- Study Permit Extension
Permanent Residence
- Spousal Sponsorship
- Common-law Sponsorship
- Conjugal Sponsorship
- Last Living Relative Sponsorship
- Express Entry
- Federal Skilled Worker
- Canadian Experience Class
- Federal Skilled Trades
- Category Specific Draws
- Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds
- Permit Holder Class
- Provincial Nominee
