Not every permanent
residence (PR) refusal comes with a right of appeal. In Canada, the
available remedy depends on the type of PR application and whether the Immigration
and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) provides an appeal right.
1) PR refusals that can
be appealed to the Immigration Appeal Division
The Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) hears a limited set of immigration appeals, including many family
sponsorship PR refusals.
Key features of an IAD
appeal:
- You can usually submit new evidence and
call witnesses; it is not limited to the original IRCC record.
- In many sponsorship appeals, the IAD can
consider humanitarian and compassionate factors in addition to
legal or factual errors.
- Sponsorship appeals generally must be filed
within 30 days of receiving the refusal decision.
Important
limits: In some situations (for example, certain inadmissibility findings such
as security, serious criminality, organized criminality, and some
human/international rights violations), the law may restrict or eliminate the
right to appeal.
2) PR refusals where
there is no appeal and judicial review is required
Many PR refusals have no
IAD appeal right. In those cases, the main remedy is an application for leave
and judicial review in the Federal Court of Canada.
This commonly includes
refusals related to:
- Many economic immigration PR streams (including
many Express Entry-related refusals),
- Many in-Canada PR processes where IRPA
does not grant an appeal,
- Other decisions where IRPA does not provide an
IAD appeal right.
Key features of judicial
review:
- The Court does not redo the application
or grant PR directly.
- The focus is whether the decision was unreasonable or procedurally unfair.
- If successful, the usual result is that the
decision is set aside and returned to IRCC for reconsideration by a
different officer.
- It is typically a two-stage process (leave first; if leave is granted, the judicial review proceeds).
What this means for you
- If you have a family sponsorship PR refusal,
you may have a broad IAD appeal with the ability to add evidence
and, in many cases, request humanitarian relief.
- If your PR refusal is not appealable, you
usually must proceed by Federal Court judicial review, which is
narrower and focuses on legal error and fairness rather than a full
re-hearing.
If you are unsure which
category your refusal falls into, it is important to get advice quickly because
deadlines are strict for both appeals and judicial reviews.
A&M Canadian Immigration Law Corporation assists clients across Canada, with a strong presence in Winnipeg. We assess PR refusals, determine whether the correct remedy is an IAD appeal or Federal Court judicial review, and prepare strong legal submissions.
