⚠In Canada, you can only appeal an immigration decision in the Federal Court within strictly limited timeframes:
- 15 days if you are IN Canada
- 60 days if the decision was made OUTSIDE of the country
This process is called permission for leave. Simply speaking, this process aims to get permission from the judge to start the appeal process.
These deadlines are extremely strict. If you missed it, that's it. No second chance will be given to you, even if the refusal was clearly erroneous or issued according to a template. This is very crucial for:
- applications for permanent residence (PR)
- sponsorship appeals
- PRRA and humanitarian applications (H&C)
If the judge allowed the process to start, then 30 days were given to send all the documents on the case. This is where the problems began: the past years showed that this time has become extremely insufficient!
Do you know why? Here’s the answer: just a request for all the documents on the file can take several months (access to the GCMS notes). And if there are no notes, then how can we build a competent defense? - There is NO WAY
And now some good news
Due to such risks and the overload of the judicial system some changes have been made. On May 8th, 2025, the Federal Court of Canada issued a new order that gives more time for the second step of the process - the preparation of documents for the court (Applicant's Record).
Previously, only 30 days were given for this after the court’s notification (Rule 9 Notice).
Now it’s been extended to up to 75 days!
And most importantly:
Without petitions and without the consent of the Ministry of Justice this became an automatic extension. No unnecessary bureaucratic barriers.
In the last couple of years, the court simply could not cope with the workload. The number of cases has increased almost 4 times since 2019. Why?
- Visa officers increasingly issue superficial and “copy-paste” refusals
- Automated tools (e.g. Chinook) and poorly trained AI programs are used
- GCMS notes arrive with delays, lawyers do not have time to prepare
- The Ministry of Justice and the courts are overloaded and underfunded
And what we have as a result: people want to file a lawsuit but they can’t manage to do that. And not because they do not want to, but because so much time is wasted waiting for information.
PAY ATTENTION! This is not a tool for delaying the process, but a chance to approach the case deeper in order to better protect the client and prepare the legislative framework.
Oleksandra Melnykova, Immigration and Refugee Consultant in Canada
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