ZDENKA ACIN, President of Immigra International

 

Zdenka ACIN is a recognized expert in immigration, refugee, and citizenship law. She is President and Founder of Immigra International, and holds the designation of Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC, Class L3 RCIC-IRB - Unrestricted Practice) as a member in good standing of the Collage of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). 

Firstly as an accredited and awarded interpreter and translator for 4 languages, and afterwards as immigration consultant and an educator, Zdenka has been working and collaborating with the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC, renamed into IRCC), and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) since 2003, what gives her an extraordinary  experience, and an extensive knowledge of immigration and refugee process from inside these governmental institutions. 

 

At the IRB alone, Zdenka participated at an extensive number of hearings in various settings. At the Refugee Protection Division (RPD): hearings of refugee claims based on the all grounds of persecution for the reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group - including persecution based on sexual orientation, domestic violence; hearings of vulnerable persons / gender-based claims; and political opinion. At the Immigration Division (ID): admissibility hearings and detention review hearings. At the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD): hearings of rejected family class sponsorship appeals; removal orders of permanent residents and protected persons appeals; a residency obligation appeals; Minister’s appeals; and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). 

   

Zdenka had worked as a professor at four prestigious colleges in Toronto and Vancouver. Her great passion for teaching and commitment to justice has been reflected in the course that she crated and taught under the name War Crimes Against Women/ Women and War with the focus on the atrocities against women, children and innocent civilians, and on the legal instruments of ending impunity (i.e.: the Geneva Convention; the Rome Statute; The International Criminal Court; ad hoc tribunals: The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone). Thus, she is well informed of these international legal proceedings as well.

 

As a profoundly and uniquely passionate about immigration and refugee issues, with a deep commitment to education for over 10 years, and as a student-centred and student-oriented educator, Zdenka has received several awards for Excellence in Teaching of Immigration Consultant Diploma Program. She is also a preparatory tutor for the CICC RCIC Entry-to-Practice Licensing Exam & the IRB Specialization Exam since she is the holder of the IRB Specialization licence as well. Additionally, she is a Mentor of new immigration consultants in the CICC 

6-month Mentorship Program, faculty at Ashton Collage, and the provider of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD hours) courses, which are the prerequisite for all immigration consultants’ membership in good standing with the CICC, and serve as an additional learning process to expend the professional knowledge of immigration, refugees and citizenship law in order to practice competently and ethically.

 

Zdenka graduated philosophy from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade. She is the author of two published books pertaining to film, theatre and literature in exile. She is also a poet, short story writer and essayist. Her talents extend to acting and she is a full member of ACTRA. Being well-travelled researcher and documentary filmmaker, she visited over 60 countries worldwide. In her former country, Yugoslavia, Zdenka was a prominent human rights activist, editor-in-chief, journalist, TV author, and host of the talk show PRESS Club, what brought her into exile in Canada 25 years ago.

 

Zdenka is a mother of two sons and four grandchildren. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.