Eligibility for Appeal
Most refugee claimants can appeal (ask for a review) to the IRB-RAD if their refugee claim is rejected by the IRB-RPD. The IRB-RAD will tell you if you can appeal.
You may not be able to appeal to the IRB-RAD namely if:
- You are a designated foreign national.
- You withdrew or abandoned a refugee claim earlier.
- Your negative RPD decision states that your claim has no credible basis or is manifestly unfounded.
- You entered Canada as part of one of the exceptions under the Safe Third Country Agreement.
- IRB-RPD took away your refugee protection after giving it to you under cessation and/or vacation proceedings.
If you are not allowed to appeal to the IRB-RAD, you may file a Judicial Review Application to the Federal Court of Canada to review your claim. Ask a lawyer what steps you should take.
Start your Notice of Appeal
To start the appeal process, you must:
- Fill, sign and date your Notice of Appeal form.
- List everyone who is appealing or do a separate Notice of Appeal for each person.
- Mail three copies or email one copy of your Notice of Appeal to the registry of the IRB-RAD.
- Your lawyer can file this notice online for you.
After you send in the Notice of Appeal form, you will receive an Acknowledgement Letter, which includes the IRB-RAD registry office and contact information, the date you must file your Appellant’s Record, and explains what will happen next.
Complete your Appellant’s record
The appellant’s record is where you explain why you do not agree with the IRB-RPD decision.
For your appellant’s record, you must:
- Fill in an Appellant’s Record form.
- Follow the instructions in the Appellant’s Guide about what documents and information must be included in your Appellant’s Record.
- Send the following documents, in this order:
- All or part of the transcript of your IRB-RPD hearing: If you choose to do this, you will first need to ask to have a written transcript of the recording that you got with the IRB-RPD decision. You also need to send a statement that the transcript that you are relying on is accurate, signed by the person who made it.
- Any evidence the IRB-RPD did not allow during or after your refugee hearing. In a written statement, you will need to provide explanations on:
- Whether the evidence you are sending is new evidence that did not exist or was not available to you when your claim was rejected,
- Whether you are asking for a hearing to be held at the IRB-RAD and if you want to change the location of the hearing, and
- If you need an interpreter, and the language and dialect.
- Any law, case law, or other legal documents that support your appeal.
- A memorandum document that describes:
- The mistakes made by the IRB-RPD that you want the IRB-RAD to review.
- Where to find these mistakes in the IRB-RPD document or in the recording or transcript of the hearing.
- The decision you want the IRB-RAD to make.
- Review the IRB-RAD Appeal Checklist before sending in your appellant’s record.
- Mail two copies or email one pdf digital copy of your appellant’s record to the registry of the IRB-RAD via your lawyer portal.
IRB-RAD decision
The IRB-RAD Member reviewing your claim can:
- reject your appeal,
- decide to give you refugee protection, or
- send your claim back to a different Member at the IRB-RPD for a new decision.
The IRB-RAD will send you their decision and their reasons. They also send a copy of the decision to IRCC and CBSA.
If your IRB-RAD appeal is approved
If the IRB-RAD decides to approve your appeal, you are a protected person and can apply for permanent residence.
If your IRB-RAD appeal is rejected
If the IRB-RAD rejects your appeal, and you do not file an Application for Judicial Review before the Federal Court within 15 days of the refusal, CBSA could try to remove you from Canada. If you do not leave within 30 days after the refusal and are not accepted under h&c or under a permanent residency program, you will be under a deportation order and will need an authorization to return to Canada.
You may apply to the Federal Court for a judicial review of the IRB-RAD’s decision.
You might be able to apply to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.