Refusal Appeals
This Section explains your right to appeal against a decision made by the Immigration office at Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) in certain categories if you find it unfair. Canadian Government lays out rules and guidelines for the evaluating officers to follow while make a decision on your application to them, but if you disagree and feel there should be a consideration, you may be able to make an appeal to the Immigration appeal division.
Who is eligible to Appeal?
There are three instances in which you have a provision to appeal
FirstlyIf you have sponsored a family member whose application for permanent residence was refused, you may want to appeal that decision to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) in order to explain why the visa application should be accepted. This is known as a sponsorship appeal (subsection 63(1) of IRPA).
Secondly If you have received a removal order, you may be able to appeal your removal to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) in order to explain why you should be able to stay in Canada. This is known as a removal order appeal (subsections 63(2) and 63(3) of the IRPA).
Third generally, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) requires permanent residents to be physically present in Canada for at least 730 days out of every five years. If you are a permanent resident who is outside Canada and a visa officer (also outside Canada) finds that you did not meet your residency obligation, you may lose your permanent resident status. You can appeal the decision to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) in order to explain why you should keep your permanent resident status. This is known as a residency obligation appeal (subsection 63(4) of the IRPA).
Reasons for Appeal
There must be a satisfactory reason for the appeal to take place. According to the known rules in place, there are three grounds for appeal
Firstly if there has been an error in law or fact in the judgement.
Secondly in the decision a principle of natural justice was not observed.
Lastly there are sufficient humanitarian and compassionate reasons (usually involved best interests of a child/children) to overcome a negative decision.
Appeals are usually not accepted until there is a sufficient evidence to file under one of the above grounds for appeal.
Who is not eligible to Appeal?
Your appeal would not be accepted if you are an individual with records of serious criminality, organized crime, inadmissible for security grounds, violations of human rights, or have been convicted of Misrepresentation.
Also if a Visitor Visa, Study permit, or work permit has been declined, appeals are usually not accepted for those decisions.
GCMS Notes
The GCMS (Global Case Management System) is a centralized system used by IRCC (Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada) to track all temporary (visitor, study or work visas) and permanent immigration, and citizenship applications. Each application recorded in the GCMS system will contain, for example, the correspondence from and to IRCC, the detailed notes/comments of immigration officers have reviewed the application, all the applicant’s supporting documents, etc. Having access to your GCMS notes is the only way to have an accurate view of the status of your file or to understand the reason behind a refusal.
The GCMS notes are issued under the Access to Information Act, which is a federal law allowing any person to get access to information about them from the federal government.
In order to be allowed to apply for the notes, you have to be a Permanent Resident or a Canadian Citizen. If you are not, you can still get your notes, but you will have to go through a representative that is either a Permanent Resident or a Canadian Citizen. This representative will apply for an Access to Information Act request on your behalf.
We are here to help, contact us and we will represent you getting access to the information.
