After a refusal
Refusals are decisions. Decisions can be reviewed.
The letter says refused; it does not say finished. Depending on the file you may have fifteen days, thirty days or sixty — to request reconsideration, appeal to a tribunal that hears the case fresh, or put the officer’s reasoning in front of a Federal Court judge.
Three doors, strict clocks
- Reconsideration. No formal deadline, no obligation on IRCC — but for clear factual errors or evidence the officer overlooked, a focused request sometimes reopens a file in weeks. We treat it as a free shot, never the whole strategy.
- Immigration Appeal Division. Sponsorship refusals, residency-obligation findings and certain removal orders carry a true appeal — de novo, new evidence admissible, humanitarian jurisdiction included. Notice deadlines run as short as 30 days from the refusal.
- Federal Court judicial review. For everything else — study permits, work permits, Express Entry, citizenship — review runs on reasonableness: was the decision transparent, intelligible and justified on the record? Leave applications are due within 15 days (decisions made in Canada) or 60 days (abroad). Roughly, most cases that win end in the application being sent back for redetermination by a different officer.
What winning actually looks like
Judicial review does not substitute a yes for a no; it quashes an unreasonable no and orders the file decided again, lawfully. Paired with a strengthened record, that second decision is where the approval happens. We are candid about prospects at the outset — some refusals are correct, and the honest advice is a better application, not a courtroom. When delay itself is the injury, a mandamus application compels IRCC to decide a file that has sat beyond all reason.
FAQ
Refusals & Appeals: the questions we hear
The refusal letter is boilerplate; the officer’s underlying notes (GCMS) are the real reasons. We obtain them through an access request — or, on judicial review, through the certified tribunal record — before deciding strategy.
The Federal Court can extend time where the delay is explained and the case has merit; the IAD has similar discretion. Extensions are exceptions, not entitlements — call the day the refusal arrives.
Begin properly
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