Biography
Ali Esnaashari is the Founder and Managing Lawyer of Esna Law PC, a Toronto-based law firm focused exclusively on Canadian immigration, refugee, and citizenship law.
Born and raised in Iran, Ali came to Canada as a teenager, an experience that inspired his career in immigration law. Before founding Esna Law in 2021, he spent five years as a litigation lawyer at a Toronto immigration law firm.
Ali's practice includes
- Litigation: Judicial review and immigration litigation in the Federal Court, and hearings and appeals before the Immigration and Refugee Board.
- Complex applications: Complex immigration applications, including files that have already been refused, humanitarian and compassionate applications, and sponsorship matters.
- Inadmissibility & removal: Inadmissibility allegations (including criminality, security and IRGC-related grounds), removal matters and immigration detention.
Education & bar admission
- Juris Doctor, Osgoode Hall Law School (2015)
- Bachelor of Arts, York University
- Called to the Ontario Bar in 2016
- Exclusively practises immigration and refugee law
Community & professional involvement
- Community and legal advocacy with the Unheard Conscripts Advocacy Network, including a class action judicial review with Lorne Waldman challenging the inadmissibility of Iranian former conscripts on IRGC-related grounds
- Community advocacy with Midaynta Community Legal Services on identity issues faced by Somali refugees in Canada
- Former member of the Board of Directors, Iranian-Canadian Legal Professionals (ICLP)
- CILAC Pro Bono volunteer
- Contributing editor, Toronto Law Journal
- Former immigration instructor, Humber College, Faculty of Business
- Past collaboration with the Iranian Women's Organization of Ontario
- Collaboration with Iranian Canadian Association of Immigration Consultants (ICAIC)
Beyond the office
An avid Manchester United supporter, Ali loves to exercise and read biographies, and describes himself as a "serial hobbyist."
Publications, talks & media
Publications
- "The Immigration Consequences of Organized Criminality," Toronto Law Journal
- "Immigration Consequences for Permanent Residents Convicted of a Criminal Offence in Canada," Toronto Law Journal
Conferences, seminars and podcasts
- Guest, Borderlines Podcast #166: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff, June 2025: the immigration consequences of Canada's IRGC terrorist listing for former conscripts
- Speaker, Canadian Bar Association Immigration Law Summer Summit, 2025
- Co-presenter, "Roundtable Discussion: Refugee Law," Ontario Bar Association, Keeping up with Citizenship & Immigration Law series, with M. Max Chaudhary
- Panellist and co-author of program materials (Top 10 Tips Sheet and Scenarios), "Ethical Challenges in Immigration Practice, Including Those Arising From IRCC Technology, Portal Fatigue and Errors," Law Society of Ontario, 31st Immigration Law Summit, November 2023
- Annual seminars and workshops for North York Community House (NYCH), IMLIN and other legal and community organizations
Media commentary
- CBC News Manitoba, "9 people rescued near Manitoba border were part of human smuggling operation"
- CBC News, "Canadian-American couple reunited after compiling 250-page binder proving common-law status"
- Toronto Star, "Her job is to care for the vulnerable during the pandemic. Now she might get deported"
- Wall Street Journal, "Newlyweds Killed in Iran Crash Were Part of a Surge of International Students in Canada"
- Reuters, "Canada's detention of Mexicans surges after visa lift"
- The Lawyer's Daily, "Detained immigrant children 'legally invisible' in Canada, report claims"
