Appeals and Hearings
This page is about what to do when a decision has gone against you and you are already in Canada. The fuller description of the tribunal that hears most of these is on the Immigration Appeal Division page; what follows is how to work out where your own matter belongs.
Which body hears what
A refused family sponsorship, a residency obligation finding, or a removal order against a permanent resident generally goes to the Immigration Appeal Division.
A refused refugee claim may go to the Refugee Appeal Division, though not every refused claim can.
An allegation of inadmissibility, or a detention, is dealt with by the Immigration Division — which is a first hearing rather than an appeal.
A refused application of most other kinds — a visa, a study or work permit, a citizenship application — has no appeal to the Board at all. The route there is an application for leave and judicial review at the Federal Court, and sometimes simply a better application.
Appeal, review and reapplication are three different things
An appeal asks a tribunal to decide the matter again, and it can substitute a different answer. A judicial review asks a court whether the decision was made properly, and it cannot. A fresh application starts over, and is sometimes faster and better than either. Which of the three is available to you is a question about the decision you received, not about how unfair it feels.
Whatever the route, the clock has already started
Every one of these is counted in days from the date on the decision, and the periods are not the same. The document you were sent states yours, and most of them say in terms whether the decision can be appealed and to where. The single most useful thing anybody in this position can do is find that document today.
Where Skylam comes in
A refusal, a residency finding or a removal order is a decision with a deadline attached, and the way out of it depends on which body made it. Skylam helps you read what you have been sent, assess which forum your matter belongs in, and identify what has to be done before the time runs out.
Where a matter calls for representation at a hearing, we will say so and work alongside immigration counsel. Establishing the route quickly is the most useful thing that can be done, because every one of them is measured in days.
Requirements
Who qualifies
There are no eligibility requirements here in the ordinary sense. There is a decision you have received, and a set of routes that may or may not be open to you. What follows is what determines which.
What decides the route
- Who made the decision — a visa office, an inland office, the Canada Border Services Agency, or a division of the Board.
- What status you hold. A permanent resident has rights of appeal a temporary resident does not.
- The reason given. Some grounds of inadmissibility remove a right of appeal that would otherwise exist.
- The date on the decision, which starts every period that applies to it.
What to have ready for a first conversation
- The decision letter and its reasons in full, with the envelope or the email that shows when it arrived.
- Your file or client number, which appears on everything the office has sent you.
- A history of the application the decision relates to, and of anything filed before it.
Before you do anything else
Read the date, and read what the decision says about appealing it. Then check the Board's own page, linked below. Preparing the wrong route is recoverable; running out of time on the right one usually is not.
Requirements change without notice. Check IRCC’s own page
Every case turns on its own facts. Book a consultation and a licensed consultant will tell you where you stand on Appeals and Hearings.
Book a ConsultationLast updated 26 September 2026
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