Hearing and Appeal
Hearing and Appeal
Hearing and appeal is right of a permanent residents or refugee claimant in certain situations, such as: refusal of sponsorship applications, issuance of removal orders against them, fail to meet the residency obligations. However, your must initiate and present your case to IRB.
Not matter hearing or appeal, all decisions made by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) are based on the evidence provided and the law that applies to the case. You have the right to be represented by legal counsel at the hearing at your own expense. You also have the right to have an interpreter and may call witnesses to support your case. There is time limit in the filing of the appeal. If you are not happy with the decision of the IRB, you may seek permission and apply to the Federal Court for judicial review.
Immigration Division (ID) – What to do if detained at the border?
If you are detained at the border, don’t panic, there will be an opportunity of admissibility hearing or detention review, and we are at your services.
Immigration Division (ID) is one of the four branches of Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), handles detention review and admissibility hearings. And IRB is an arbitrary authority of Canada. It decides the disagreement between Canadian immigrants, refugee claimants and Immigration Canada (IRCC), Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA).
Detention Review
CBSA has authority to exam temporary resident or permanent resident has violated term and condition imposed to them. Immigration Division of IRB gives detainee to challenge or alter the CBSA’s decision. When someone are detained, CBSA has 48 hours to either release the suspect or refer the case to ID to determine if detention should be continue or not. Once detainee’s identity is confirmed, and there is no threat to the public, plus suitable guarantor, you may regain your freedom subject to further review.
Admissibility Hearing
Admissibility hearings are triggered by CBSA or IRCC when officer finds out that the TR or PR fails certain requirement hence render offender inadmissible to Canada. The hearing offer defendant a fair chance to be heard and advocate his or her stand.
If you lose the hearing, you will be subject to a removal order woulda. You can still fight in the federal court, or if you are a permanent resident, you may opt for appealing to IAD (immigration appeal division) before going to federal court.
Appeal – Immigration Appeal Division (IAD)
Immigraton Appeal Division (IAD) is one of the four main branches of IRB. It balance with the power of IRCC, that eligible applicant may appeal visa officer’s denial decision. IAD has its own jurisdiction:
A) Sponsorship refusal
- Parent/grandparent, insufficent income;
- Parent/grandparent, health issues;
- Spouse/CLP/conjugal partner, eligibility;
- Spouse/CLP/conjugal partner, income;
- Spouse/CLP/conjugal partner, genuinity;
- Adopted child(ren), legitimacy
B) Removal Order
1. Forigner overstay or PR committed serious criminal offence may lead to inadmissible to Canada, and be laid against a Removal order;
2. Government discover that someone provide untruthful or misleading information when applying to be a PR. In another word, committed “misrepresentation”;
Appellant needs to provide compelling argument and evidences to be considered, and persuade the member that he or she deserved not be removed from Canada.
C) Residency not compliance
Most residency non-compliance appellants live oversea. Their PR cards expire, IRCC send letter offer them to rescind their PR status then apply for tourist visa to Canada. But there is way to uphold your PR status. IRCC, CBSA can’t stripe away PR status unilaterally. Appellant is entitled to be heard in IAD his/her case. Travel document should be issued to those expired PR card holder. With detailed preparation/arrangement, appellant can reinstall his/her PR status. You need a seasoned immigration consultant for advice.
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB)
The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is Canada’s largest independent administrative tribunal. It is quasi-judicial, responsible for making well-reasoned decisions on immigration and refugee matters, efficiently, fairly and in accordance with the law. There are 4 divisions under IRB, Immigration Division (ID), Immigration Appeal Division (IAD), Refugee Protection Division (RPD) and Refugee Appeal Division (RAD). Each division has its own jurisdiction, rules and mandates. They all have rigid requirements on timelines and methods of how to handle various applications and responses.
Typical cases handled by these four IRB divisions: ID administers Detention Review hearings, Admissibility hearings; IAD decides on sponsorship refusal appeals, residency obligation compliance appeals, Removal Order against PR or PP appeals; RPD process refugee claim application; RAD rules on refugee claimant appeals.
Practice before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) will become a restricted area of practice on July 1, 2023. On and after that date, only Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) with an RCIC-IRB class of licence will be authorized to practise before the IRB.
RCIC-IRB special license required to deal with IRB
On July 14, 2022, NLAi immigration services was accredited as RCIC-IRB. NLAi became one of the very first RCIC be honored this ultimate class license, with unrestricted practice capability on Canada immigration.
Practice before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) will become a restricted area of practice on July 1, 2023. On and after that date, only Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) with an RCIC-IRB class of licence will be authorized to practise before the IRB.
The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC)
CICC shorts for the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, was created by an act of the Canadian Parliament, “the College Act” which was passed by Parliament in June 2019. Pursuant to an order of the Minister of IRCC, the ICCRC was continued as the College on November 23, 2021.
CICC licenses and regulates Canadian immigration and citizenship consultants in the public interest. There are two types of immigration and citizenship consultants
– Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) and
– Regulated International Student Immigration Advisors (RISIAs)
RCICs have boarder practicing area on Canada immigration while RISIAs are restricted in area related to international students.
RCIC-IRB is an upgraded class L3 license above RCIC with capability of Unrestricted Practice. It is the top tier license of CICC. Holder of RCIC-IRB can take on cases to be decided in 4 Divisions of IRB: Immigration Division （ID）, Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) Regugee Protection Division (RPD) and Refugee Appeal Division (RAD).
Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
IRCC shorts for Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada, or Immigration Canada. It used be shorted as CIC. There are still many IRCC forms or websites keep “cic” as a short form. IRCC has a few Case Processing Centers (short for CPC) in Canada to process different type application and many oversea visa posts all over the world. IRCC synergize domestic CPCs and oversea visa post to handle all temporary or permanent resident applications.
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
CBSA serves as the frontier to guard Canada’s security. No matter you are a temporary resident, permanent resident or Canadian citizen, you are subject to CBSA’s examination when cross the border. CBSA officer holds discretion power to decide whether you are allowed to enter Canada or not. They may detain any suspective violator of Canadian immigration law and regulations.
Of course, you are entitled to fight against CBSA’s decision through IRB or federal court depends on your situation.
Federal Court – Judicial Review
In general, federal court is the last fighting arena if an officer rejects your application or you lost hearing or appeal in IRB. There is sensitive deadlines to file judicial review in federal court upon any decision government made. There are two steps:
First, apply “leave” to the court, if leave is granted, then the case will be heard in the court. Judicial review will base on procedure fairness, whether the decision involves prejudice, if there is error application in law or interpretation. You can’t not amend new supporting documents to argue with officer about the decision. The court is to make sure you are treated fair and just when officer process your case.
