Immigration Appeals

Immigration Law

Generally, RPD (Refugee Protection Division) decisions that reject a claim for refugee protection can be appealed to the RAD (Refugee Appeal Division). If the RPD has rejected your application, you can Appeal to RAD (Refugee Appeal Divison) if you believe the RPD has made the wrong decision in your refugee claim. However, there are exceptions where you cannot make am Appeal to the RAD (Refugee Appeal Division). You cannot appeal the RPD (Refugee Protection Divison) decision rejecting your refugee protection claim if:

  • you are a designated foreign national;
  • your refugee protection claim was withdrawn or abandoned;
  • the RPD decision says that your claim has no credible basis or is manifestly unfounded;
  • you made your claim at a land border with the United States and the claim was referred to the RPD as an exception to the Safe Third Country Agreement;
  • the Minister made an application to cease (end) your refugee protection, and the RPD decision allowed or rejected that application;
  • the Minister made an application to vacate (cancel) the decision to allow your refugee protection claim, and the RPD decision allowed or rejected that application;
  • your claim was referred to the RPD before the relevant provisions of the new system came into force in December 2012;
  • your claim for refugee protection was deemed to be rejected under Article 1F(b) of the Refugee Convention because of an order of surrender under the Extradition Act.

If your case cannot be appealed to the RAD, you can apply to the Federal Court for leave to review your RPD decision. The process of having a negative decision from an immigration decision maker reviewed is called a Judicial Review. The Court will conduct a detailed review of whether the decision-maker made an unreasonable decision, made an error of law, or failed to adhere to the standards of procedural fairness. The Judicial Review is divided up into two stages, the Leave Stage and the Judicial Review Stage.

Application for Leave

The process starts with the filing of an Application for Leave and for Judicial Review with the Federal Court within 15 days of the receipt of the refusal decision (if it is a refusal decision arising within Canada), or within 60 days of the receipt of the refusal decision (if it is a refusal decision arising outside of Canada). At CAM’s, we carefully review the refusal decision and develop the strongest legal arguments and prepare materials for filing with the Federal Court.

Application for Judicial Review

If Leave is granted by the Federal Court, we can further assist by representing you before the Federal Court. The Judicial Review is generally conducted by way of an oral hearing before a Federal Court Justice. If the Judicial Review is successful, the refusal decision is overturned, and the file is returned to a different decision maker for reconsideration in accordance with the Court’s direction.