Canadian Immigration Refusal, Rejection and Appeal

Immigration appeals and dealing with immigration refusal is a central aspect of our practice. The immigration appeal may be made to the Federal Court depending on the circumstances or to the Immigration Appeal Division. There are various reasons based upon which a Canadian visa officer or immigration official may refuse or reject an immigration application for entering or remaining in Canada.

The decision to deny entry to Canada may be due to a range of reasons including, misrepresentation, criminal inadmissibility, financial inadmissibility, medical inadmissibility (health grounds), serious criminality, organized criminality, non-compliance with the Canadian immigration laws and regulations, and inadmissible family member. The above are not an exhaustive list of grounds based on which an immigration application may be refused.

In short, there are numerous circumstances and reasons for which a person’s immigration application (or other applications) may be refused and, generally speaking, regardless of the reason(s) for refusal and depending on the circumstances, the rejected applicant has the right of appeal either to the Federal Court of Canada or the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD). For example, if a refugee claimant’s refugee claim has been rejected by the Refugee Division, that person (pending the coming into force of certain laws allowing appeals to the refugee appeal division) has the right to appeal the refusal to the Federal Court. Another example, however, in which the appeal goes to the IAD is a refusal of spousal sponsorship or situations involving losing permanent resident status.

Refusals of:

- Work permit applications

- Study permit applications

- Skilled worker applications

- Canadian Experience Class applications

- Investor or entrepreneur applications

- Family class applications

- Pre Removal Risk Assessment applications, and / or

- Humanitarian and Compassionate applications

are among examples of other types of rejections the appeal from which go directly to the Federal Court. For further information in this regard please visit the
Appeals to Federal Court or Appeals to the Immigration Appeal Division sections of our website.

Whatever the case, it is very important to remember that all appeals are subject to strict time limitations and it is therefore imperative that the person contacts an experienced immigration lawyer at the first available opportunity after receiving the rejection letter.

To obtain further information and to take advantage of our free half hour initial consultation,
please contact our office at (416) 365-9473.