EVELYN ACKAH, FOUNDER, OWNER ACKAH BUSINESS IMMIGRATION LAW
EVELYN ACKAH
"Legal Support For Global Mobility"
Evelyn Ackah is one of Canada’s premier business immigration lawyer for a reason. She has an incredible success rate for her clients. That is significant in a complex field that is impacting lives more than ever before. Clients look to the business immigration law specialist for one reason: her firm helps smooth the way to Canada and the United States for professionals and their families.
“Immigration law is constantly changing and evolving,” says Ackah. “We take the stress out of the immigration process for our clients. There are no surprises at the last moment, no missing documentation or unexpected complications. We let our clients know up front what they need to provide and ensure all the paperwork is completed accurately and on time. Relocating is already stressful, the immigration process should not be”
Corporations and individuals alike engage Ackah Business Immigration Law to smooth the way through any number of immigration processes. The firm’s clients include multinational corporations who need to move highly-trained technology specialists from around the world to Canada or the USA. They include entertainment agencies that need to bring in big name talent from the US for shows that will draw sellout crowds and fulfill the dreams of Canadian fans.
They are also foreign students who choose to earn their degrees at Canadian colleges and universities and remain here as newly-trained professionals.
“Whether it’s moving for employment, or for marriage after meeting someone from another country, or to complete an international adoption, or even sponsoring a nanny,” Evelyn Ackah says, “immigration affects all of us in different ways.”
Those individual, but common scenarios are why Evelyn Ackah founded Ackah Business Immigration Law in 2010 after a successful career on Bay Street with leading international law firms.
For corporate clients, Ackah Business Immigration Law often acts as an in-house immigration counsel. They provide both strategic and legal advice on matters of employee relocation and mobility. Regulatory requirements now demand that would-be immigrants either represent themselves, or seek advice only from immigration lawyers and immigration consultants. That can leave company representatives in a difficult position when they want to help or advise international staff on matters of immigration to Canada and the United States.
“We take the risk out of the immigration processes for HR professionals because we are regulated professionals who are fully qualified to do the work we do,” says Ackah. It is almost impossible for HR professionals who only look at these processes once a year to keep up with the constant changes.”
Sharing their knowledge about Canadian and US immigration law is one of the firm’s highest priorities.
“We share information with our clients and contacts so people can access what they need to know when they need to know it,” Ackah says. “We want our clients to know we are always looking out for their best interests."
As a result of that commitment to accurate and timely information, the firm’s newsletter now has over 5000 subscribers who avail themselves of the valuable monthly updates. The Ackah Business Immigration Law newsletter has been produced for more than eight years.
Subscribers to the Ackah Law newsletter are mostly made up of current and future clients: individual skilled-workers, international corporations looking to transfer employees to Canada or the U.S., and small to medium-sized businesses who need to access a global pool of potential skilled workers. As new clients engage the firm, Ackah Business Immigration Law introduces highly-developed business practices and technology usage that will save them both time and stress.
Ackah’s dual role as a lawyer and as an entrepreneur informs all of the firm’s practices and technology driven processes.
“Documentation can be sent by secure email, for example. It enables passports, birth certificates and other documents to be uploaded and sent quickly and safely,” says Ackah. “I’ve been a business owner now for 8 years. I recognized early on the significance of technology in a high volume practice. Technology helps us support our clients and keep them informed, and it helps us to keep our work efficient and cost-effective.”
The importance of being cost-effective cannot be under-stated. In most areas of law, costs can easily spiral out-of-control leaving clients reeling after they receive an invoice from their lawyers. Ackah Business Immigration Law is not one of those law firms.
“We provide flat fee quotes on ninety per cent of our files, we can do at a flat fee,” Ackah says. “With immigration law you need to be able to anticipate what your costs are going to be and there is no room for discretion on that. It’s not just a running clock where you are always wondering if you are getting full value. We ensure that we are always giving our clients value with everything they need.”
Immigration is very personal to Ackah and it informs both her professional and personal life. Ackah is an immigrant herself from Ghana, West Africa, who came to Canada when she was five. She has also adopted her two children by way of international adoption – so immigration is very personal to her.
“It’s not just a job for me, it’s my passion. I’ve been a lawyer for twenty years and have focused on immigration law almost exclusively,” says Ackah. “The Ackah Business Immigration Law team are all immigrants, or children of immigrants, and we are compassionate advocates for our clients.”
“If we don’t feel we can be successful for our client’s, we don’t take on the file,” Ackah says. “We want to help our clients to become successful immigrants by helping them cross borders seamlessly.
Clearly, Evelyn Ackah knows what it truly means to smooth the way into Canada and the United States.
Kate Baggott's technology and business journalism has appeared in the Technology Review at MIT, the Globe and Mail, Canada Computes, the Vancouver Sun, and on the Business to Business News Network
Kate is the author of two short story collections and twenty years of professional writing and publishing.
Ackah Business Immigration Law
Crossing Borders Seamlessly™
1401 1 St SE #101, Calgary, AB T2G 2J3
Calgary: (403) 452‑9515
Vancouver: (604) 985‑9512
Toronto: (416) 643‑7177
North America: 1 (800) 932-1190