About Olga Korpalo
I Have Spent Twenty Years Welcoming People to Canada
When I moved to Canada, nobody met me at the airport. I remember that feeling very well, and I have spent my career making sure my clients never experience it.
From education to immigration
In the early 2000s I started working with international students coming to Canada. That work grew into CanStart Group, a Canadian education company I founded, which has placed students from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam and a dozen other countries into Canadian schools, colleges and universities. Eight out of ten of our clients come through personal recommendations. In this business, that is the only statistic that matters.
Along the way, parents kept asking me the same question: who will look after my child in Canada? So I built an answer. My Custodianship Student Support Agency has taken care of more than two thousand minor students in Toronto: notarized declarations, homestay families, a phone that answers at 2 a.m.
And year after year, at the edge of every education plan, stood the same wall: visas, permits, refusals, immigration strategy. For a long time I referred those questions to licensed colleagues. Then I decided to become one.
20+
years in Canadian education
Placing students into Canadian schools, colleges and universities since the early 2000s.
2000+
minor students supported
Real custodianship in Toronto through my Custodianship Student Support Agency.
80%
of clients come by referral
Families recommend me to families. That is the whole marketing plan.
3
languages
English, Russian and Ukrainian, for conversations and for documents.
Licence
Licensed, at the highest class
Today I am a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant with the RCIC-IRB designation, License R1053567, in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. The IRB part matters: it is the highest licence class, and it means I am also authorized to represent clients before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, not only before IRCC.
You do not have to take my word for any of this. The College keeps a public register, and my profile is one search away.
Olga Korpalo
- Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, RCIC-IRB
- Licence R1053567, College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC)
- Authorized before IRCC and the Immigration and Refugee Board
- Founder, CanStart Group (education, since the early 2000s)
- Founder, Custodianship Student Support Agency, Toronto
- Korpalo Immigration Inc., Toronto, Ontario
How I work
I take fewer cases than I could, because I read every document myself. I will tell you when your case is weak, even though it costs me a client, because a refusal on your record costs you more. And I stay reachable. My clients have my WhatsApp, and they know I answer.
Twenty years in, I still meet people at the airport sometimes. Old habits.
Let us talk about your situation
One conversation is usually enough to know where you stand and what to do next.