Last Updated: July 12, 2022
1. ABOUT VISASCAN.CA
The domain name www.Visascan.ca.com belongs to Visascan Immigration Consultancy Inc. (henceforth referred to as the “VIC”).
In this privacy policy (this “Policy”), “Visascan.ca”, “we”, “us” or “our” includes:
• Canadian Immigration Agent Gowtham Pidaparthi, doing business as Visascan.ca;
Visascan.ca is the data controller responsible for your personal information under this Policy. This Policy applies to the operations of all network properties and services within the VIC family of websites, unless specifically indicated otherwise. The VIC is a collection of Canadian Immigration related web properties which offer various customized and value-added services that facilitate the process of immigration to Canada.
Our postal address is:
1608 Whitestone Dr.
Oshawa ON, Canada
L1K2R9

Visascan.ca is the controller of your personal information, and is responsible for the collection, processing and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Policy, unless expressly specified otherwise. If you have any questions about this Policy or want to exercise your rights under this Policy, please email us at [email protected], or call us or write to our Data Protection Officer at the phone number or the address above.
2. OUR COMMITMENT TO PRIVACY
This Policy outlines our commitment to the privacy of all visitors to the VIC, and fully describes when, why and how we collect personal information in a secure manner. Your use of VIC Internet sites and services is subject to the following Policy. In addition, your use of our sites and associated services constitutes your acceptance of these terms. If our Policy changes in the future, we will post the revised Policy on our websites and update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this Policy. If the changes are significant, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our website. However, we encourage you to review this Policy periodically to be informed of how we use your personal information. If you disagree with any changes to this Policy, you will need to stop using this website and deactivate your account(s), if applicable, as outlined below.
We may offer you the ability to connect with our websites or use our services and tools using a mobile device via a mobile optimized website. The provisions of this Policy apply to all such mobile access and use of mobile devices. This Policy will be referenced by all such mobile optimized websites.
3. COLLECTION AND PROCESSING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
• 3.1. Personal information that we collect
We only collect the personal information that is necessary to carry out our business, provide the service(s) you requested and to keep you informed of the latest news about Canadian immigration and/or the VIC.
The personal information that we collect directly from you may include the following:
• If you express an interest in obtaining additional information about our services, request client support, use our “Contact Us” or similar features, we generally require you to provide us with your contact information, such as your name, email address, phone number, and your country of residence. When you supply us with your contact information online, you will only receive contact from us regarding matters relating to Canadian immigration and/or settlement in Canada and/or studying in Canada;
• If you express an interest in obtaining additional information about the services of our trusted partners, we generally require you to provide us with your contact information, such as your name, email address, phone number, and your country of residence. When you supply us with your contact information online, you will only receive contact from those Visascan trusted partners regarding matters relating to Canadian immigration and/or settlement in Canada and/or studying in Canada; Our trusted partners whose names, addresses and contact information are reproduced below.

• If you answer and submit one or more of the Eligibility Questionnaires and/or the Express Entry CRS Calculator on our website, depending on the specific questionnaire(s), we generally require you to provide us with the following personal information, including: your name, email address, phone number, age, nationality, country of residence, immigration status, relationship and marital status, parental status, financial status, employment history, business ownership, and education background. You may also choose to submit your resume or other personal information pertinent to the evaluation of your eligibility for Canadian immigration. Thereafter, we may send follow-up emails to the email address provided by you regarding your Canadian immigration inquiry, unless you have unsubscribed or requested to no longer receive these emails. Your personal information will be used for the sole purpose of assessing your potential to immigrate to Canada under Canada’s current immigration selection criteria, and will not be sold to any third-party without your consent.
• If you create an account to use one or more of the following online services, including the Canadian Immigration Forum, the Canadian Style Resume Builder, and the Canada Visa Study Hub available on our websites, we may ask you to provide a username, your email address, and a password;
• If you use and interact with our websites, we automatically collect log files and other information about your device and your usage of our websites through cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies, such as IP addresses or other identifiers, which may qualify as personal information (please view the “Device and usage data” section below);
• If you would like to retain our services and use our Payment Options, we may ask you to provide your name, email address, and payment information.
• 3.2. Personal information of children
You must be at least 18 years old to create any account with the VIC and to sign up to our newsletter. We do not knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of 18. Those under the age of 18 should not use the VIC websites or provide us with any personal information. We encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s Internet usage and if you have reasons to believe that a child under the age of 18 has provided personal information to us, please email us at [email protected].
• 3.3. Device and usage data
• a) Log files
We use common information-gathering tools, such as log files, cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to automatically collect information, which may contain personal information, from your computer or mobile device as you navigate our websites or interact with emails we have sent to you.
As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically via log files. This collected information may include your Internet Protocol (IP) address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, your location, your browser type, your Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, the pages and files you viewed, your searches, your operating system and system configuration information, and date/time stamps associated with your usage.
This information is used to comply with data contracts, treaties, national laws, and regulations, analyze overall trends to help us provide and improve our websites, and to guarantee their security and continued proper functioning. We also collect IP addresses from users when they log into the services as part of the VIC’s security features.
• b) Cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies
We use cookies and similar technologies such as web beacons, tags, and Javascript alone or in conjunction with cookies to compile information about usage of our websites and interaction with emails from us. We will always ask for your consent prior to placing a cookie on your computer or device.
When you visit our websites, our servers or an authorized third party may place a cookie on your browser, which can collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different sites. Cookies help us ensure our websites are not misused by bots and prevent account login information sharing.
We use both session-based and persistent cookies. Session cookies exist only during one session and disappear from your computer or device when you close your browser software or turn off your computer. Persistent cookies remain on your computer or device after you close your browser or turn off your computer or device. You can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level but, if you choose to disable cookies, it may limit your use of certain features or functions on our websites or services. Should you wish to opt-out from any given type of cookie tracking for which you have previously opted-in, including Google Analytics, please use the specific opt-out mechanism as indicated further below in “Opt-in and Do Not Track Feature”.
We also use web beacons on our websites. For example, we may place web beacons in notification emails that notify us when you click on a link in the email that directs you to one of our websites. Such tracking technologies are used to operate and improve our websites and email communications and to track the clicking of links or opening of emails. All cookies placed by Visascan.ca expire after 12 months.
• c) Opt-in and Do Not Track Features
You may opt-in to collection of device and usage data by managing your cookies at the individual browser level or use the opt-out tool here. Please note, however, that by blocking or deleting cookies and similar technologies used on our websites, you may not be able to take full advantage of the websites.
While some internet browsers offer a “do not track” or “DNT” option that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked, these features are not yet uniform and there is no common standard that has been adopted by industry groups, technology companies, or regulators. Like most other companies, our websites are not currently configured to respond to browsers’ “Do Not Track” signals because at this time no formal “Do Not Track” standard has been adopted. Click here for more information on “Do Not Track.”
• d) Social Media Features
Our websites may use social media features, such as the Facebook “like” button, the Twitter “Tweet” button, and other sharing widgets (“Social Media Features”). You may be given the option by such Social Media Features to post information about your activities on a website to a profile page of yours that is provided by a third-party social media network in order to share with others within your network. Social Media Features are either hosted by the respective social media network or hosted directly on our website. To the extent the Social Media Features are hosted by the respective social media networks, the latter may receive information that you have visited our website from your IP address. If you are logged into your social media account, it is possible that the respective social media network can link your visit of our websites with your social media profile.
Your interactions with Social Media Features are governed by the privacy policies of the companies providing the relevant Social Media Features.
• e) Online behavioural advertising and use of advertisers
We partner with a third-party ad network to either display advertising on our website or to manage our advertising on other sites. Our ad network partner uses cookies and Web beacons to collect non-personal information about your activities on this and other websites to provide you targeted advertising based upon your interests, which is called online behavioural advertising. If you wish to not have this information used for the purpose of serving you targeted ads, you may opt-out by using the specific opt-out mechanism as indicated above in “Opt-in and Do Not Track Feature”. Please note this does not opt you out of being served advertising. You will continue to receive generic ads.
• 3.4. Purposes for which we process personal information and the legal basis on which we rely
We collect and process your personal information for the purposes and on the legal basis identified below:
• Providing our services and performing contracts: We base the processing of your personal information on our legitimate interest to operate and administer our websites and tools, and on the performance of any contract with you to provide you with content you access and service you request according to any applicable terms of service;
• Managing user registrations: We will process your personal information by managing your user account for the purpose of performing the contract with you according to any applicable terms of service, and relevant national laws and regulations;
• Handling contact and user support requests: If you fill out a “Contact Me” and/or one or more Eligibility Questionnaires, request client support, or if you contact us by other means, we will process your personal information to the extent it is necessary for the purpose of our legitimate interests to fulfill your request and communicate with you;
• Developing and improving our websites: We will process your personal information to analyze trends and track your usage of our websites and interactions with emails to the extent this is necessary for our legitimate interests to develop and improve our websites and to provide our users with more relevant content;
• Sending communications: We will process your personal information to send you the latest updates about us, including information about our service, to the extent you have provided your prior separate consent (please also view the “Your access to and control over your personal information” section below).
• Complying with legal obligations: We will process your personal information when cooperating with public and government authorities, courts, or regulators in accordance with our legal obligations under applicable laws to the extent this requires the processing or disclosure of personal information to protect our rights, and is necessary for our legitimate interests to protect against misuse or abuse of data hosted on our site, our data, our websites, to protect personal property or safety, to pursue remedies available to us and limit our damages, to comply with judicial proceedings, court order, or legal process, and/or to respond to lawful requests.
Where we need to collect and process personal information by law, or under a contract we have entered into with you and you fail to provide that required personal information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract.
Where your personal information is anonymized or de-identified, we do not require a legal basis to use it as the information will no longer constitute personal information under the applicable data protection law. Our use of anonymized or de-identified data is not subject to this Policy.
4. THIRD PARTIES AND INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER
Your personal information may be collected, transferred to, and stored by us in Canada. We will use reasonable means to ensure that personal information is protected regardless of where your personal information may be located.
We may transfer personal information to non-affiliated third parties in providing the services, such as IT and system administration and hosting, research and analytics, marketing, account management, technical operations, credit card processing and email service providers to send out emails on our behalf, pursuant to agreements that prohibit the third parties from using or disclosing the personal information other than for the purpose of processing and which impose security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. Our contracted service providers whose names, addresses and contact information are reproduced below.
We do not sell or rent your personal information to non-affiliated third parties except as permitted by law or as outlined within this Policy. However, in the event of a sale of all or substantially all of our business or another similar transaction, we may transfer or disclose your personal information to a purchaser or prospective purchaser, who may collect, use and disclose such information for the purposes of evaluating the proposed transaction or operating and managing the affairs of the acquired business, or for other purposes identified in this Policy.
The collection, use, and disclosure of information contemplated in this Policy may involve a transfer of the information to jurisdictions located outside your country of residence that may not have equivalent laws and rules regarding personally identifiable information. By way of example, this may happen if one of our service providers is located in a country outside your home country. Therefore, your personal information may be processed outside the EEA, and in countries which are not subject to an adequacy decision by the European Commission and which may not provide for the same level of data protection in the EEA. In this event, we will ensure that such recipient offers an adequate level of protection, for instance by entering into standard contractual clauses for the transfer of data as approved by the European Commission (Art. 46 GDPR), or we will ask you for your prior consent to such international data transfers.
We reserve the right to disclose your personal information as required by law, and as necessary to protect the property, interests and rights of the VIC and Visascan.ca.
Service Providers Contact Information
Cloud.ca
(Cloud hosting) cloud.ca
420 Rue Guy
Montreal, QC Canada
H3J 1S6
[email protected]
https://cloud.ca/privacy-policy/

WPEngine
(Webserver hosting) WPEngine, Inc.
504 Lavaca St., Ste. 1000
Austin, Texas 78701
[email protected]
https://wpengine.com/legal/privacy/

iWeb
(Webserver hosting) Internap Corporation (INAP)
1 Enterprise Ave North
Secaucus, New Jersey 07094
[email protected]
[email protected]
https://iweb.com/legal/privacy

PayPal
(Payment Processing) PayPal Canada Co.,
MaRS Centre, West Tower
661 University Avenue, Suite 506
Toronto, ON M5M 1G1
https://www.paypal.com/ca/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full

Converge Pay
(Payment processing) Elavon Canada Company
4576 Yonge Street, Suite 200
Toronto, Ontario M2N 6N4
Google Analytics
(Website analytics) Google LLC
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
https://policies.google.com/privacy

ActiveCampaign
(Newsletter) ActiveCampaign
1 North Dearborn Street, 5th floor
Chicago, IL 60602
[email protected]
https://www.activecampaign.com/legal/privacy-policy

Estruxture
(Colovation hosting) eStruxture Data Centers Inc.
800 rue Square-Victoria, SS1
Montreal, Quebec, H4Z 1A1
[email protected]
https://www.estruxture.com/privacy-policy/

Openface
(Colocation hosting) Openface Internet
3445 Park Avenue Montreal
Quebec H2X 2H6 Canada
[email protected]
https://openface.com/en/privacy-policy/

Dropbox Business
(Data backup) Dropbox, Inc.
[email protected]
https://www.dropbox.com/privacy

Intuit Quickbooks
(Accounting and invoicing) Intuit Canada ULC
5100 Spectrum Way
Mississauga, ON
L4W 5S2
[email protected]
https://www.intuit.com/ca/legal/privacy-policy/

In individual cases, we may also share personal information with professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors, and insurers based in countries in which we operate, who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance, and accounting services.
Any personal information or other information you choose to submit in communities, forums, blogs, or chat rooms on our websites may be read, collected, and/or used by others who visit these forums, depending on your account settings.
The VIC websites may contain links to websites operated by third parties. These websites may collect your personal information. This Policy does not apply to the practices of third parties and we do not assume any responsibility for, and by using this website and/or accessing a third party’s website from this website you release us of any responsibility for, the actions, practices and omissions of third parties. Please check the privacy policy at each website you visit.
5. RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We will keep your personal information only as long as is reasonably necessary for the time consistent with the original purpose of collection or such longer period as may be required by applicable law. We determine the appropriate retention period for personal information on the basis of the amount, nature, and sensitivity of your personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure, and whether we can achieve the purposes of the processing through other means.
After expiry of the retention periods, your personal information will be deleted. If there is any information that we are unable, for technical reasons, to delete entirely from our systems, we will inform you and put in place appropriate measures to prevent any further use of the data.
6. YOUR ACCESS TO AND CONTROL OVER YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
You may exercise any of the rights described below by sending an email to [email protected]. Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before taking further action on your request. We will process your request within 30 days of receipt.
• 6.1. Managing your information
You may access and update some of your information by accessing your account with the VIC or any of its affiliates, as applicable. You are responsible for keeping your personal information up-to-date. You can also ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information concerning you that you cannot update yourself within your account.
• 6.2. Access to your information
You have the right to request information about the personal information we hold on you at any time. You can contact us at [email protected] or call us at 1.888.947.9445 (Toll free in North America) and we will provide you with your personal information via email. If you require additional copies, we may need to charge a reasonable fee.
• 6.3. Right to erasure
We keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us, for our legitimate business interests, to comply with our legal obligations and protect our rights. If you no longer want us to use your information to provide you with our latest news or any of our services, you can request that we erase your personal information and close your account(s).
Please note, however, that we may retain some of your personal information as necessary for our legitimate interests, such as fraud detection and enhancing security. We may also retain and use your personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations, such as keeping information for tax, legal reporting and auditing obligations, as well as professional obligations. Information you have shared with others (e.g. reviews, forum postings) may continue to be publicly visible. Additionally, some copies of your information (e.g. log records) may remain in our database, but are disassociated from personal identifiers. Residual copies may also be kept in our backup systems. If we have shared your personal information with third-party service providers, we will let them know about the erasure where possible.
• 6.4. Right to object to direct marketing
We want to communicate with you only if you want to hear from us. If we rely on your consent as our legal basis for processing your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. If you have already given your consent but you prefer not to receive promotional information from us, you may unsubscribe from the Canadian Immigration Newsletter email services by using the unsubscribe link situated at the bottom of any promotional message you receive from us, or please call us at 1.888.947.9445 (Toll free in North America) or email us at [email protected]. Please be sure to include the email address you used when you subscribed to the Canadian Immigration Newsletter.
• 6.5. Restriction of processing
You can ask us to block or suppress the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances such as where you contest the accuracy of that personal information or you object to us processing it and we have no legitimate grounds that override yours. Such request alone does not stop us from storing your personal information.
• 6.6. Right to portability
Whenever we process your personal information, by automated means based on your consent or based on an agreement, you have the right to get a copy of your personal information transferred to you or to another party. This only includes the personal information you have provided to us.
• 6.7. Automated decision making
You have the right to elect not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects (“Automated Decision-Making”).
At the moment, the Eligibility Questionnaires and the Express Entry CRS Calculator on our websites use Automated Decision-Making. The Eligibility Questionnaires use results of Automated Decision-Making to help us determine your eligibility for Canadian immigration based on the information you provide. The Express Entry CRS Calculator uses Automated Decision-Making to assess your score based on the CRS points system used by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), and the information you provide. If you elect not to be subject to Automated Decision Making, please refrain from using the Eligibility Questionnaires and the Express Entry CRS Calculator.
• 6.8. Consent withdrawal
To the extent we base the collection, processing, and sharing of your personal information on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of the processing based on such consent before its withdrawal.
• 6.9. Right to non-discrimination
If you are a Californian resident, we will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), including your right of access and right to erasure. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not deny you services, charge you different prices or rates for services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties, provide you a different level or quality of services, or suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for services or a different level or quality of services.
• 6.10. Authorized agent
If you are a Californian resident, you may use an authorized agent to exercise certain privacy-related requests and rights on your behalf. The authorized agent’s exercise or request on your behalf sent by mail shall include a power of attorney or a notarized statement properly signed by you appointing such authorized agent for such purpose. If your authorized agent submits the exercise or request online, a copy of the power of attorney or the original notarized statement shall be sent to us by mail.
• 6.11. Questions or complaints
If you have any queries or to make any complaint in relation to this Policy and Visascan.ca’s privacy practices, you may call us at 1.888.947.9448 (Toll free in North America), or write to our data protection officer at [email protected] or at the following address:
If, however, you believe that we have not been able to assist with your complaint or concern, and you are located in the EEA, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority.
7. PERSONAL INFORMATION SECURITY
We take reasonable precautions to ensure the protection of personal information, collected, used or disclosed by us using appropriate physical, organizational and technological measures. We use industry-standard encryption technologies to receive sensitive data submitted by you on our sites. In case of a personal data breach that is likely to result in high risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the proper authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach and without undue delay.