Rehabilitation
You may be allowed to enter Canada if you are rehabilitated as it removes the grounds of criminal inadmissibility. Rehabilitation means that you lead a stable lifestyle and that you are unlikely to be involved in any further criminal activity. You are eligible to apply for rehabilitation if you have committed an act outside of Canada and five years have elapsed OR if have been convicted outside of Canada and five years have passed since the end of the sentence imposed. There are two types of rehabilitation:
- Deemed Rehabilitation: If 10 years have passed by since the crime was committed, an inadmissible individual could be deemed rehabilitated automatically due to the passing of time. Deemed rehabilitation refers to the state where enough time has passed since you were convicted for a criminal charge which allows you to enter the country. You may only be deemed rehabilitated if the crime committed outside Canada has a maximum prison term of less than 10 years if committed in Canada.
- Individual Rehabilitation: Individual rehabilitation refers to the state where the government of Canada believes that you will no longer commit new crimes. At least five years must have passed since the end of your criminal sentence and from the date you committed the act.
Record Suspension:You can apply for a record suspension or a discharge to the Parole Board of Canada. Under their discretion they can either grant pardon to the offence you have committed in Canada, which may make you no longer inadmissible. If you have been granted a record suspension or discharge from any other country, you will have to check if the pardon is valid in Canada. This can be done by visiting your nearest visa office.
Temporary Resident Permit (TRP): You can apply for a temporary resident permit (TRP) if you are inadmissible but you have a valid reason to stay in Canada and if it has been less than five years since the end of your sentence.
To be eligible for a temporary resident permit, your need to enter or stay in Canada must outweigh the health or safety risks to Canadian society, as determined by an immigration or a border services officer.
There is no guarantee that you will be issued a temporary resident permit. TRP is a temporary waiver of inadmissibility that allows an individual to enter Canada who would otherwise be inadmissible. This is granted for a specific reason and for a specific amount of time, up to a maximum of three years.
Disclosure
IRCC’s Access to Information Act provides all applicants to send a request for information about their immigration applications, files, procedures, timeline progress or any other issues they might be facing. This act provides Canadian citizens, permanent residents or any person present in Canada the legal right to obtain information, in any form, that is under the control of a government institution. The general purpose of these acts is transparency and an open participation. There are a couple of ways that you can find out the latest status of your Canadian immigration visa application: you can visit CIC’s online e-CAS system, which will give you a short summary of which stage of processsing your file has reached (e.g. ‘in process’ or ‘decision made’), or you can request a copy of your immigration file (i.e. your GCMS or CAIPS notes ) which should provide you with a more detailed look at your application status including the date when CIC may deal with your file next.
CAIPS note service is specifically for Canada Visa. Whenever application is refused due to any reason, general refusal letter is handed over to the applicant. This makes it difficult to know the exact reason for refusal of the application. CAIPS notes gives details on what and why visa officer refused the application. On receiving caips notes, it gives you a detailed explanation about your rejection and about the documents /information required for getting visa.
Detention Review
Foreign nationals or permanent residents who have been detained bythe Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for immigration reasons appear before the Immigration Division (ID) of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) for detention reviews. TheCBSAmay detain, or hold, a foreign national or permanent resident,
if it has reasonable grounds to believe that the person:
- is unlikely to appear for an examination, hearing or removal
- is a danger to the public or
If it has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person:
- is inadmissible -that is, not allowed to enter or remain in Canada
The officer is not satisfied that the person:
has established his/her identity
The person may be held in a minimum-security immigration holding centre or in a provincial correctional facility.
When theCBSAdetains a person, a detention review must be held to decide whether there is reason under theImmigration and Refugee Protection Act(IRPA) to continue detention. Within48hours of detention, theIDwill review the reasons for detention. If the officer orders continued detention, the person will appear for another hearing before theIDwithin seven days of the first review. The ID holds further hearings at least once every 30days for as long as the person is detained. If the officerfinds that there is no longer a reason underIRPAto continue detention, then hemay order the person released. He may also order certain terms and conditions, such as posting a bond (a cash deposit).
Detention Review Hearing
While in detention, you have the following rights:
- You have the right to be represented by counsel at your expense or to receive legal aid, if you qualify. You have the right to be informed of the reason for your detention.
- You have the right to contact your embassy or a representative of your country’s consulate at your request.
- If you do not want a consular representative to be contacted, you can ask that the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees inCanada be informed of your detention.
- If you do not understand or speak the language in which proceedings are conducted, you have the right to be assisted by an interpreter.
- If you are a minor under the age of 18, or in the opinion of the Immigration Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), are unable to understand the nature of the proceedings, a designated representative may be appointed to help guide you through the proceedings.
How is a detention review held?
The Immigration and Refugee Board member (the officer) will be in charge of your review. The minister’s counsel will present to the member some facts and evidence that will explain why the Canada’s Border Service Agency believes you should be detained. After the explanation you will be given an opportunity to respond and explain your story as well as ask questions personally or by your counsel if you are represented. The member might ask you questions throughout the hearing. After hearing from both sides, the member will decide whether you will be released or remain in detention. What are the factors the member (the officer) considers?
The two most common scenarios are that the officer believes the individual is a danger to the public or a flight risk.
If the person is considered a danger to the public,sec.246 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations states the factors the member must consider:
- the person constitutes, in the opinion of the Minister, a danger to the public in Canada or a danger to the security of Canada;
- association with a criminal organization;
- engagement in people smuggling or trafficking in persons;
- a conviction in Canada for a sexual offence or an offence involving violence or weapons;
- a conviction for an offence in Canada under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for trafficking, importing and exporting, and production;
- a conviction outside Canada or pending charges outside Canada for a sexual offence or an offence involving violence or weapons;
- a conviction outside Canadaor pending charges outside Canada for trafficking, importing and exporting, and production of controlled substances.
If the person is considered a flight risk, r. 245 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations states the factors that the memberwill consider:
- being a fugitive from justice in a foreign jurisdiction in relation to an offence that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an offence under an Act of Parliament;
- voluntary compliance with any previous departure order;
- voluntary compliance with any previously required appearance at an immigration or criminal proceeding;
- previous compliance with any conditions imposed in respect of entry, release or a stay of removal;
- any previous avoidance of examination or escape from custody, or any previous attempt to do so;
- involvement with a people smuggling or trafficking in persons operation that would likely lead the person to not appear for a measure referred to in paragraph 244(a) of the IRPR or to be vulnerable to being influenced or coerced by an organization involved in such an operation to not appear for such a measure;
- the existence of strong ties to a community in Canada.
Outcomes of a hearing
In making a decision, the officer considers the information provided at the detention review –including your story and Canada’s immigration law.
If the member decides that there is no longer a reason under Canada’s immigration law to keep you in detention the member will order your release. The member may also order you to meet certain conditions, such as checking in regularly at a Canada’s Border Services Agency office for a period of time, or paying a cash bond.
You may ask for leave (or permission) of the Federal Court of Canada for judicial review of the decision.