Kenneth Zaifman

Founding & Managing Partner

Kenneth Zaifman graduated from law school in 1975 and articled with Richardson & Company, a well-established Winnipeg law firm. After his call to the bar in 1976, he joined Kopstein Kimmelman & Co.

One day in 1979, William Kenyon Cole stumbled into Mr. Zaifman’s office looking for a lawyer to stop his deportation from Canada. R. v. Cole was Mr.Zaifman’s first immigration case and the rest, as they say, is history.

Mr. Zaifman started Zaifman Associates, in 1986, with two employees (and no associates). The firm now has a staff of twelve, including three other lawyers with a focus in immigration law.

Along the way, Mr. Zaifman became involved with the Canadian Bar Association (Past Chair), American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (Past Chair), Manitoba Bar Association (Past Chair), International Bar Association and the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (meetings in New Zealand, conferences in Singapore).

Mira Thow

Founding Partner

Mira Thow received her law degree from the University of Manitoba [1980] and a Master of Laws degree in International Legal Studies from New York University [1984]. After articling with the Department of Justice and practicing corporate law with the firm of Goodman and Carr in Toronto, Ms. Thow returned to Winnipeg and joined her husband Kenneth Zaifman in the firm of Zaifman Associates in 1988. Since that time, Ms. Thow has practiced exclusively in the areas of Immigration and Citizenship law representing clients before the Immigration and Refugee Board (Appeal and Refugee Divisions), the Federal Court, the Manitoba Court of Queens Bench and, on behalf of the Canadian Bar Association, as an intervenor before the Supreme Court of Canada.

Ms. Thow has lectured frequently on Immigration Law at the University of Manitoba and has delivered papers on immigration issues at legal conferences in Canada and the United States. She has served as Chair of the Immigration Section, Manitoba Bar Association and as an Executive Member of the CBA National Immigration and Citizenship Section. Ms. Thow has served on several Law Society committees and was appointed by the Province as a part-time Chair of The Appeal Commission under the Workers’ Compensation Act of Manitoba. She also served as a board member and co-chair of the Women’s Enterprise Centre of Manitoba. For the past 10 years, Ms. Thow has focused primarily on business immigration advising corporations in a wide range of industries on the transfer and recruitment of foreign workers, representing many of the largest employers in western Canada.

Dean Szikinger

Lawyer

Mr. Szikinger assists clients with issues related to procedural fairness, admissibility, and enforcement matters, appeals of negative Provincial Nominee Program decisions, and temporary and permanent residence applications. He is experienced with resolving complex matters involving refused applications, inadmissibility, and out of status applicants. He regularly represents clients before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada and in Federal Court. Mr. Szikinger also assists employers and businesses with obtaining Labour Market Impact Assessments, and he assists workers under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and International Mobility Program with obtaining work permits.

Mr. Szikinger is a Past Chair of the Manitoba Bar Association Immigration Law Section and Past President of the Community Legal Education Association. He is involved in the community through volunteering his time with various other organizations such as the Newcomer Employment and Education Development Service.

Mr. Szikinger is fluent in Hungarian and has lived in six different cities on four continents before making Winnipeg his home. As such, has a great appreciation for the unique needs and challenges faced by immigrants and their families.

Chaobo Jiang

Lawyer

Chaobo Jiang is an associate lawyer at Zaifman Immigration lawyers. Mr. Jiang received his call to the Manitoba Bar in 2016. Previously, he was called to the Bar in the state of Pennsylvania, USA in 2015. Mr. Jiang currently serves as the Secretary of the Manitoba Bar Association Immigration Law Section 2020/2021 Executive Committee.

His practice area is primarily focused on immigration law, with experiences in assisting clients with a wide range of immigration applications and services including temporary resident visas, study permits, visitor records, work permits, criminal rehabilitation, temporary resident permits, Manitoba provincial nominee program applications and permanent residence applications. Mr. Jiang has further assisted clients with issues relating to admissibility and enforcement matters and have appeared before the Immigration and Refugee Board and in the Federal Court.

In addition to immigration law, Mr. Jiang can further provide legal services to client with respect to Criminal and Civil Litigation matters. He is further fluent in Mandarin Chinese and can provide services in both English and Chinese.