Matkowsky Immigration Law
4.8 rating out of 875 reviews
Catherine Bourgouin
Excellent experience. Very professional!! Would highly recommend for all services.
Anastasia Moutsis
This person, John Matkowsky is a scam artist.
I will never believe that such unprofessional person who takes his $250 for 30 mins that he doesn’t even care to be mentally present for and has 100% availability is an actual working lawyer.
He was late for the consultation, rude and impatient at the start, wouldn’t let me finish my sentences, didn’t care to learn my situation fully or wait until I can ask all questions. He repeated one thing over and over as if it was the only thing that mattered and didn’t care to help me or hear me out AT ALL!
I have never had such a nasty call with a lawyer, or any professional!
Extremely unprofessional!
I will be looking into submitting a formal complaint, please DM me if you also had a nasty conversation/situation with this lawyer.
I can tell by my experience I wasn’t the only one!
Jean Claude
I use to study in Canada before COVID-19 until end of 2019. Few months before Pandemic hits I flew backhome to visit my family. However when pandemic started my Study Permit was still valid for 5 months and my Student Visa was still valid for 2 years. I applied 2 times for Study Permit and got refused. A year and half later I reached out Matkowsky Immigration Law to help me get a new Study Permit while I still had a Visa. So I did make an appointment and paid the fee so that they can look into my case. After everything they asked me they told me I have around 60% to to 75% of getting approved for a new Study Permit. Later I did review again all comments for Matkowsky and I thought it's the best option for me because they have so high of comments and I emailed them back that I'm ready to work with you despite huge fee so I have paid a very high fees. Aqsa was very first person and so polite and kind that I started my documentation. They always responded my emails on time but they took the process very long. After sending all documents to Aqsa she then forward me to her collage Matthew. He started to review all the documents again and again the process was very slow. From payment until recieving from IRCC took around 5 months and I was very disappointed on the result. My application was refused again and the refusal later was 8 day old. I almost end up not getting back 8000$ my school fees which I have paid.
Very disappointed.
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Varun Goil
They claim to be a law firm, but as a lawyer they don't even read any document submitted. Logically a lawyer must read all documents submitted to build a strong case, but they don't even read a single word. Secondly, they fake with misrepresenting information and use unethical methods to grab money out of the contract. Lastly, they are only commercial driven, irrespective of your case has higher or lower chances of success, they only know to sell. But will never guide with ethics. Strongly, don't use this firm for any cases who has rejection in past. They are crooks.
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Brianna Forbes
Would not recommend at all. I have been trying for almost a year to move up with my husband to Canada using Matkowsky Immigration Law and we have had nothing but problems. During this time we have worked with 3 different lawyers. I am not sure if they just can’t keep staff or they truly didn’t care about working with me and my husband and just wanted the money. I got my application rejected once, they offered no support, guidance or help to us. The “letter” that they wrote and our behalf was the letters we wrote and added their signature at the bottom. You are a lot better off to save your money than to give it to this company.
David Forbes
Matkowsky and Associates was metiocre at best. I am Canadian and my wife is American and we are living in our respective countries. We dealt primarily with Jesse and he was fantastic in directing us to the outland sponsorship stream and guiding us through form completion and the collection of evidence supporting our relationship.
However, after the application was submitted, we were rejected because we were missing a tax document. This should not have been overlooked and as a result, we had to re-submit our application. From there we started dealing with other lawyers at the firm. At this point the level of service went down hill. We had problems with the photos in the application and we did not receive a lot of support. We sent the digital copy of the photo as they offered to print it, but the charge was outrageous. 90 dollars to print and ship. Additionally, there was no mention of a courier fee to send our application to IRCC until 7 months after the fact they sprung it on us.
Using their services did not speed u the process in any way and some lawyers are definitely better to work with than others.
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Esteban Benavides
Scheduled a private consulting. They literally had no idea how to handle my case (federal skilled worker: Express entry). Despite being very clear and concise on my doubts and questions, all they could say was to contact the government of Canada. Aside from the fact they did have a very bad first impression by not knowing anything they still had the nerve to say how much money I had to pay them for them to assist further. How confident would anyone feel paying $5000 if you appear to know nothing? Let alone to have the decency nor the minor interest to comprehend the situation. I have the money, but I will never give it out for free to incompetent and indifferent staff you guys have giving "assistace/guidance". For those interested, check elsewhere. these guys are nothing but clowns dressed in suits.
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Amanda Paige
Poor answers from a male associate who told me he was busy with the next question.
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Cosco Chris Nyamidie
hello,I looking for Canada Jobs
June
In August 2023, I retained the Matkowsky Law Firm to assist my niece with her Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) refusal, influenced by the positive reviews I found online. After a promising consultation with Sam, during which we clearly outlined our situation, the case was assigned to Yasim. Unfortunately, we never received the promised follow-up call after the case transfer, and most of our interactions were limited to emails.
After several exchanges, three months later, we were informed that they could not proceed with filing for a reconsideration of my niece’s PGWP—something we were firmly committed to pursuing. This was the primary reason we sought their services. We obtained the officer's notes explaining the refusal and subsequently acquired a necessary letter from her college to address the IRCC's concerns. However, both Sam and Yasim informed me during a telephone conversation that the letter from the college was insufficient, which I found disheartening and perplexing.
After paying a fee of $3,000 CAD, we were left uncertain about our next steps. We were advised that pursuing a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) would only have a 50/50 chance of success, which led us to question the firm's competence and representation. I believe that more precise and transparent communication about their limitations during our initial consultation could have saved us valuable time, money, and energy.
Fortunately, I was referred to a different law office that expressed confidence in our case. They promptly filed for a reconsideration of my niece’s PGWP, using the same letter from the school, and sought to restore her status, leading to a positive outcome right from the start. The service and support we received from this new team were exceptional, ultimately resulting in my niece successfully obtaining her PGWP.
Overall, my experience with the Matkowsky Law Firm was disappointing. While others may have had positive outcomes, my case raises significant questions about their approach to case representation. Constructive feedback could greatly enhance their communication and client management processes moving forward. I wish this firm nothing but the best with its clients, but unfortunately, my experience was vastly different from the glowing online reviews.
R M
Study Visa got refused even after assurance of getting approved and payment of hefty fees. Ms Oshani was not as prompt as their owner John Matkowsky and we had to escalate numerous times to John for intervention. Things get different after payment is made in full. Certainly not recommended.
Raquel Cordero
I would give ZERO if I could. On Friday, April 28 2023, I reached out to Sam Zimmerman for help with my study permit application, hoping for expert guidance. Instead of providing clear advice or strategies, he immediately suggested submitting a judicial review instead of simply reapplying—without even fully assessing my situation. He also wasn’t confident that switching to a 2-year Early Childhood program would improve my chances. If my application was already strong, I wouldn’t have sought professional help in the first place.
Thankfully, I found Eric Lussier, an RCIC, who was so much better than Sam Zimmerman. With Eric’s help, I successfully got my study permit and I’m now in Canada. Sam’s lack of confidence and ineffective advice made me realize he wasn’t the right person to trust with such an important application. Would not recommend Sam Zimmerman at all.
Ri Chanel
I used John,s company to apply for my study permit and got approved. Which was great. But when I used him to process my sponsorship his services as awful.
My husband did not qualify to sponsor at the time but John informed me this was possible to get an exemption through H&C. We paid more a lot to get all these done. Pretty much clearly out our account to his company. During the meeting with his wife(Sonia), she informed us that by doing this process, there is a really slim chance of getting approved. We decided to back out due to this and informed John through the email. Sonia ended up responding and retracting what she said and we continued with this service.
After one year of waiting, the application was converted to H&C application. Sonia assured me that it was spouse sponsorship with H&C ( I have proof of all these via emails). Whereas when I contacted IRCC, the agent informed me it was H&C and that the spouse sponsorship doesn't exist anymore. Since they were our agents representing us, we decided to believe what they said. This was the beginning of our nightmare.
John claimed the spouse sponsorship being converted to the H&C was a golden ticket and wanted an extra cost of more than $3000, which we refused. He later claimed that this extra cost was an error from his assistant(Yulia) and never took accountability for it.
After waiting for years, the application was denied. The worst part is they didn't inform me on time that the application was denied, I found out by checking online and then I called his office. Sonia and John NEVER responded to my emails. Rather, they made a new assistant to deliver the news to me and told me that since my husband now qualifies to sponsor, they can start up another application for me and I would pay close to what I paid before with a little bit discount. They also provided another option of paying close to $10,000 for judicial review.
I recommended this firm to family/friends after my study permit was approved but their application was denied. They pretty much take your money and never care to follow through rather advice you to start all over and pay then again. This is not a made up story. I have all the information on emails.
I also plan on filing a complaint against him officially since the IRCC agent involved in our case and other lawyers we contacted informed us that John gave us a terrible advice and applying for H&C complicated our case and that we should have waited. Don, t play with people,s future John!
Update: In response to John's reply
In response to what you have stated John, I have attached an image based on an email your firm sent to debunk what you stated (Unfortunately Google is censoring the image out)
This is coming from someone that stated “As for the rest of the comments you made in your review, they are skewed and otherwise false” This should clearly tell you who you are dealing with. John is highly unprofessional!
I was blind sided to what John promised and believe me when you are desperate, this man will use that to his advantage. This is why I called him a great sales man because he does know how to sell unfortunately you are dealing with people’s life and not properties been sold.
Toni Sellers
DO NOT TRUST!!!! They just took our money and gave us A LOT of bad advice and we paid the price not just financially but mentally as well. They didn’t listen to our circumstances and told me express entry was my only choice. After the hell they put us through, I ended up applying for a family sponsorship visa, that THIS LAW FIRM persistently told me I couldn’t apply for, and was accepted. Just don’t want this to happen to someone else. Immigration is difficult already, this company takes advantage of you when your in your most vulnerable position. 0 stars
harjot RANDHAWA
Pay so much money just for speaking to someone, and receive no help at all. Better off going somewhere else
Gurbinder Singh
My experience with matkowsky was horrible. Thay may be good at student applications but not work permits. Many reasons of delays, unprofessional documentation, overall handling.
V C
Just cold calculated lawyers who only care about money.....and trying hard to deny bad reviews that clients like me leave on them
Ngozi Johnson
I contacted Matkowsky immigration law regarding a response on a PFL letter on medical inadmissibility. On their website they published they charge $4,000 -$6,500. When I called in. They said they will charge me $6,500 plus tax. $250 as consultation fee.
I paid them $250 consultation fee. $6,250 plus tax = totalling $7,062.
After a 4 months wait. IRCC responded to the PFL letter giving me the option to convert my application to Humanitarian and compassionate category.
Ms Sonia of Matkowsky law said I will have to pay an additional $2,500 plus tax totalling $2,825.
She insisted I must pay $1,500 deposit before any further communication with IRCC to indicate my choice to convert my application to H&C
I paid the $1,500. They confirmed receipt of the additional $1,500 I paid to them then sent me a list of informations and documents that I have to present to them further . This documents were not even indicated by IRCC in their response. This firm drains you financially. Then put all the stress on you to the the actual work. They send you to go and download the forms via IRCC website. Fill it and send to them. They request for months of bank statements just for their own consumption for them to be sure you can afford their fees pretending it’s part of the requirements from IRCC when they know they are never going to submit that. If you are to do all the work. What is the $9,887.00 they billed you and have already received a total of $8,562 for? Such level of Greed.
This firm is all about draining the applicant. Taking advantage of your circumstance to enrich themselves. It’s extortion. Pure Greed. Self -centered. Very unfair. I am going to lay my complaints to the law society of upper canada.
Your audacity in your response to me. Spewing so many lies shows how desperate you are to continually extort money from people. You are money starved. What you are doing is not about people. It’s about your expertise at taking advantage of Peoples desperate situations to drain them financially in your over priced services. Your steep fees compels you to try to render the services you claim to know how to do. On instances where there is a refusal you quickly claim it’s not up to you to determine the success of any application.
You should apply your promptness and long responses to reviews at rendering a good service. Your very long essays in your quick review responses is so you can absolve yourself and continue sucking people dry via your greed. How many people have you responded to their negative reviews calling it fake and calling them liars. Neither of us know each other so how can different people expressing their experiences as regards your nag for money be all wrong?
Pls, People be careful of this Matkowsky immigration law firm and their crazy tactics at draining your resources. There are very good immigration lawyers out there that are kind hearted & professional at the same time.
Not this people that will treat you just as a number while draining your purse. Draining your purse is their priority and Major interest.
Pralaya Basnet
We had terrible experience with this firm after spending almost $4000 for there overpriced service my husband work permit got rejected twice and they don’t really care about the people .it’s like big scam
Be careful
ranjeeta karki
We had very bad experience with this law firm all they care about is money and way overpriced. Stay out of this firm