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Refused or facing a hearing: immigration appeals in Brampton

Deadlines

Appeals and court reviews have short deadlines, often 15 to 60 days from the day you receive the decision. Call early.

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The short answer

After an immigration refusal, or when you face a hearing, the remedy depends on what was decided and who you are. Sponsors, permanent residents and some others can appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division; admissibility hearings and detention reviews happen at the Immigration Division; most other decisions can only be challenged by judicial review at the Federal Court, within 15 days for decisions made in Canada and 60 days for decisions made outside Canada. Manny Hundal, a Barrister & Solicitor, represents clients at the Immigration and Refugee Board and the Federal Court.

Start here

A refusal letter, a notice of hearing or a detention is not the end of the road, but the deadlines are short and some remedies close for good once they pass. The first job is to work out which decision you are dealing with, because that decides where you go next.

Many routine applications are filed by applicants themselves or with a licensed consultant. This page is for when something has gone wrong and the next step is a tribunal or a court.

Find your remedy

  • Sponsorship appeals. If you sponsored a spouse, partner, child, parent or grandparent under the family class and IRCC refused the application, you as the sponsor may be able to appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD). The notice of appeal must reach the IAD within 30 days. See sponsorship appeals.
  • Residency obligation appeals. If you are a permanent resident and an officer outside Canada decided you did not meet the residency obligation of 730 days in five years, you can appeal to the IAD within 60 days. See residency obligation appeals.
  • Removal order appeals. Permanent residents, protected persons and holders of a permanent resident visa can generally appeal a removal order to the IAD, within 30 days of receiving it. See removal order appeals.
  • Inadmissibility hearings. If an officer has written a report that you are inadmissible, for example for serious criminality or misrepresentation, the case may be referred to the Immigration Division for an admissibility hearing. See inadmissibility.
  • Detention reviews. If you or a family member has been detained by the Canada Border Services Agency, the Immigration Division must review the detention within 48 hours, again within seven days, and then at least once every 30 days. See detention reviews.
  • Federal Court judicial review. For refusals with no tribunal appeal, including visitor visas, study and work permits, economic permanent residence and most citizenship decisions, and for IAD, RAD and other tribunal decisions, the route is usually judicial review at the Federal Court. See Federal Court judicial review.
  • Humanitarian and compassionate grounds. If you do not fit any program, or the law leaves no other route, an application on humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) grounds asks IRCC for an exception based on your circumstances. See humanitarian and compassionate.

Appeal or judicial review

An appeal, such as an IAD appeal, looks at the decision again. The IAD can hear testimony and new evidence and, in many cases, consider humanitarian and compassionate factors.

Judicial review is narrower. The Federal Court checks whether the decision was reasonable and whether the process was fair. It generally looks at the record the decision-maker had, and it does not grant the visa or status itself. If it finds an error, it usually sends the file back to be decided again. It has two stages: first you ask for leave (permission), then, if leave is granted, there is a hearing.

Some decisions carry no IAD appeal. Under section 64 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), there is no IAD appeal for people found inadmissible for serious criminality, which for this purpose means a crime punished in Canada by at least six months in prison, among other grounds. Sponsorship refusals based on misrepresentation have no IAD appeal, except where the person sponsored is the sponsor’s spouse, common-law partner or child. Refusals under the in-Canada spouse or common-law partner class also have no IAD appeal. Judicial review may still be available.

Deadlines

These deadlines are set in law and run whether or not you have your file yet.

  • Judicial review (IRPA section 72): 15 days for a matter arising in Canada, 60 days for a matter arising outside Canada, starting the day after you are notified of the decision or otherwise become aware of it
  • Judicial review of a citizenship decision: 30 days (Citizenship Act section 22.1)
  • IAD sponsorship appeal: 30 days after the sponsor receives the decision and written reasons (IAD Rules, rule 16)
  • IAD removal order appeal: 30 days after receiving the removal order, unless filed at the end of the admissibility hearing
  • IAD residency obligation appeal: 60 days after receiving the decision and written reasons

Asking IRCC to reconsider does not stop any of these clocks.

Before you choose

Read the reasons. Since July 29, 2025, IRCC has included an officer decision note with most temporary resident refusals. You can also request your file, including the Global Case Management System (GCMS) notes, under the Privacy Act at no cost. Do not wait for notes if a court deadline is running.

Reconsideration or a new application. Where the problem was missing evidence, a fresh application that fixes it can be the practical route. A reconsideration request can help with a clear, checkable error, but there is no right to one.

How Manny helps

Manny Hundal is a Barrister & Solicitor, called to the Ontario Bar in 2013. His practice is focused on immigration law. His work is the part of immigration law that happens before tribunals and courts.

  • He reads the refusal, the notes and the file, and tells you which remedies are open and which deadlines apply.
  • He prepares and presents appeals at the IAD, including witness preparation and evidence.
  • He represents clients at admissibility hearings and detention reviews at the Immigration Division.
  • He files judicial review applications at the Federal Court and argues them if leave is granted.
  • Where the better route is an H&C application or a new application, he builds it around the reasons for the last decision.

Consultations are available in English, Punjabi and Hindi. No lawyer can promise a result. What you get is a clear reading of your options and the deadlines, before they pass.

Frequently asked questions

For most IRCC decisions, the leave application for judicial review at the Federal Court must be filed and served within 15 days if the decision was made in Canada, and within 60 days if it was made outside Canada. These limits come from section 72 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. For a family class sponsorship refusal, the sponsor’s appeal must reach the Immigration Appeal Division within 30 days. Residency obligation appeals have 60 days, removal order appeals 30 days, and citizenship decisions a 30-day judicial review deadline. A judge can extend the judicial review deadline for special reasons, but extensions are not automatic. Get advice in the first few days rather than the last.

An appeal, such as an IAD appeal, can look at the decision again, hear new evidence and testimony and, in many cases, consider humanitarian and compassionate factors. Judicial review is narrower. The Federal Court checks whether the decision was reasonable and whether the process was fair, generally on the record the decision-maker had, and it usually sends the file back for a new decision rather than granting the status itself. Many refusals, such as visitor visa refusals, have no appeal at all, so judicial review is the only way to challenge them.

Get a lawyer involved before the hearing date. An admissibility hearing at the Immigration Division decides whether you are inadmissible, for example for serious criminality or misrepresentation, and can end with a removal order. A Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) representative presents the case against you, and evidence and witness lists must be exchanged at least 5 days before the hearing. What happens at the hearing also affects whether you can appeal to the IAD afterwards. See inadmissibility.

Sometimes. Reconsideration is a request, not a right. It tends to work when there is a clear, checkable error, such as a document IRCC received but did not consider. It rarely works when the officer simply weighed the evidence differently. A reconsideration request does not pause the deadline for judicial review, so if you want to keep the court option open, the leave application usually needs to be filed while you wait.

GCMS notes are the officer’s internal notes on your file, and they often explain a refusal in more detail than the letter. You can request your own file under the Privacy Act at no cost. They are useful when you plan to reapply. They are less useful if a 15-day court deadline is running and the notes will not arrive in time. In that case the deadline comes first.

No. The Federal Court’s guidance says you may represent yourself or be represented by a lawyer who is a member in good standing of a Canadian law society. A consultant cannot represent you in a Federal Court proceeding. Consultants licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants can represent clients before IRCC and the Immigration and Refugee Board. If your file may end up in court, it helps to have a lawyer involved early.

You must disclose past refusals when an application asks about them. A refusal on its own does not bar you from applying again. What matters is whether the next application answers the concerns that led to the last refusal. Not disclosing a past refusal when asked is far more serious, because it can lead to a misrepresentation finding and a five-year bar.

This page is general information, not legal advice about your situation.

Sources

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