Refugee Claims
This page is about making a refugee claim from inside Canada. What the deciding body is, and what a hearing involves, is on the Refugee Protection Division page; what follows is the part that depends on your own position rather than on the tribunal's.
Claiming when you are already here
A claim can be made at a port of entry as you arrive, or at an office inside Canada if you are already in the country. Either way an officer decides whether the claim is eligible to be referred to the Refugee Protection Division, and it is the referral that starts the timetable rather than the day you decided to claim.
What it does to the status you already hold
A refugee claim is not an application for status and it does not extend one. If you are here on a study or work permit, making a claim does not renew it, and letting it expire while a claim is pending is a separate problem from the claim itself — see Status Extension. Claimants are generally able to apply for a work permit and for interim health coverage while a claim is pending, and both are applications of their own.
It is not the only route, and it is not reversible
People sometimes make a claim because it is the option they have heard of, when their situation would be better served by a permit, a sponsorship, or an application on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Those routes exist and they are separate. A claim, once made, is a record that follows you — so it is worth being certain it is the right route before it is the route you are on.
Where Skylam comes in
Making a refugee claim from inside Canada starts a process with its own timetable, and the earliest steps shape everything after them. Skylam helps you understand how a claim is made and referred, identify the deadlines that begin immediately, and prepare the account and the documents the Division will ask for.
Where a matter calls for representation at a hearing, we will say so and work alongside immigration counsel. What we do first is make sure you know which process you are in and what it is asking of you.
Requirements
Who qualifies
The full picture is on the Refugee Protection Division page. What follows is what matters specifically to somebody claiming from inside Canada.
What to have in hand
- Identity documents for everyone who would be included in the claim, or an explanation of why they are not available.
- Your current immigration documents — the permit, visa or record of entry you are on, and the date it expires.
- Anything that documents why you cannot return, however incomplete it is today.
What follows quickly
- An eligibility decision by an officer and, if the claim is referred, a written account to complete by a date the Board sets.
- A medical examination, which is required of claimants.
- Separate applications, if you want them, for a work permit and for interim health coverage.
Before you do anything else
Check what status you hold today and when it expires, because that question does not go away while a claim is pending. Then read the Board's own page, linked below, and take advice before the claim is made rather than after.
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 Refugee Claims.
Book a ConsultationLast updated 26 September 2026
Skylam Consultancy and Immigration Services
Trusted & Certified
Our immigration consultants are members of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) and are accredited as Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCIC).
The CICC is the only regulatory body that promotes and protects the public interest by overseeing regulated immigration and citizenship consultants and international student advisors.
Verify status with the CICC