Career Path and
Reported Cases
More than 26 years representing families and individuals in building a future in Canada honestly and responsibly.
Member in good standing of the Law Society of Ontario and the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Active license, verifiable by anyone in the official registries.
REPRESENTING IMMIGRATION PROCESSES
FAMILIES REPRESENTED AND SUPPORTED
Academic Background
A solid academic background and specialization in law in Canada.
- Bachelor of Law - Universidad del Norte
- Diploma en Derecho – York Information and Technology College
- Diploma in Court and Tribunal Agent Program- Seneca College
- Master of Laws (LLM)- Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University.
My Professional Career
- McKenzie Lake — Head Counsel, Immigration- 2000-2002
- Surka Spina Cugliari — Immigration Practitioner/ Aassociate Immigration counsel- 2005-2007
- Cisternas-Bartolomeo-González — Partner- 2007- 2012
- Sole Practitioner— desde 2013
Leading to Serve
A career of leadership, representation, and service, guided by a commitment to the community.
- Vice President of the Association of Colombian-Canadian Professionals — three consecutive terms
- Former Director of the Hispanic Canadian Congress
The Cases I Have Defended
REPORTED CASE · 2012
Piedrasanta v. Canada (2012)
2012 CanLII 46516 (CA IRB) — Immigration Appeal Division · Panel: Irvin H. Sherman, Q.C. · Hearings: January 12, 2011; April 29, 2011; February 22, 2012 · Decision: March 7, 2012
Outcome: appeal allowed. Refusal overturned.
A visa officer refused a spousal sponsorship on the grounds that the marriage was not genuine, relying on the absence of a white dress, a wedding photographer, and an officiating imam.
I acted as legal representative for the appellant throughout three days of hearings between January 2011 and February 2012. The position maintained was that the genuineness of a marriage must be assessed from the cultural context of the parties themselves.
The Immigration Appeal Division allowed the appeal and overturned the refusal.
REPORTED CASE · 2010
Aldaz v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2010 CanLII 86021 (CA IRB) — Immigration Appeal Division · Panel: Mariam S. Pal · Hearing: March 22, 2010 · Decision: March 22, 2010
Outcome: appeal allowed. Expedited processing ordered.
A daughter sponsored her father. The application was approved and the residence fee paid. The file was then lost within the system for almost six years. The refusal letter, dated December 2004, never reached the family.
It came to light in January 2008 only as a result of inquiries I submitted to the immigration section of the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince.
The tribunal allowed the appeal and ordered the visa office to process the case urgently, given the delays and lack of communication.
Legal Defense with Knowledge, Experience, and Honesty
Karol Cabrera — Honduras to Canadá
Honduran journalist. Protection granted by the Canadian State, 2010. Reported by the international news agency EFE.
Outcome: arrival in Canada as protected persons — the journalist and her two children.
In December 2009, Kathleen Nicole Rodriguez Cabrera, sixteen years old and the daughter of Honduran journalist Karol Cabrera, was murdered in Tegucigalpa.
On March 1, 2010, Cabrera survived a second attack. Her colleague Joseph Ochoa died when the vehicle they were traveling in was hit by thirty-six shots.
I learned of the case through a television broadcast and began the process from Toronto. Cabrera and her two children arrived in Canada as protected persons.
The news agency EFE identified me as her lawyer in its coverage of her arrival. In 2016, CNN journalist Fernando del Rincón publicly confirmed, at a forum on press freedom in Honduras, my role in helping her leave the country and in securing legal representation for the process.
My Purpose: To Always Tell the Truth
I am the voice the media turns to when the truth needs to be told about immigrating to Canada.
- Peel Multicultural Council
- Seminars in the U.S., Mexico, Central America, and South America
- Boletin Migratorio (a decade)
- W Radio Colombia
- SEMANA Magazine
- COLMUNDO Magazine
Author and creator
- "No pierdas tu libertad por emigrar a Canadá" (Don't Lose Your Freedom Emigrating to Canada)
— Amazon Best Seller*. A guide to recognizing immigration scams and protecting your physical, emotional, and financial freedom throughout the process.
- "Amor y Ley: El poder de la Fe y la Justicia" (Love and Law: The Power of Faith and Justice)
Do you need advice on immigration to Canada?
Schedule a consultation with Angélica González-Blanco
Formación
Formación académica sólida y especialización en derecho en Canadá.
- Universidad del Norte
- LLM, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Libro y academia
Publicaciones y aportes académicos que contribuyen al conocimiento en inmigración.
Standing / Habilitación
Miembro en buen estado de la Law Society of Ontario y del College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.
College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants
Trayectoria Profesional
Más de dos décadas de liderazgo y práctica en destacadas firmas de inmigración en Canadá.
- McKenzie Lake — Head Counsel, Immigration
- Surka Spina Cugliari — socia fundadora
- Cisternas-Bartolomeo-González — hasta 2012
- Firma propia — desde 2012
