Immigration Division (ID)

The Immigration Division decides two things: whether a person is admissible to Canada, and whether a person who has been detained under immigration law should stay in detention. It is part of the Immigration and Refugee Board, an independent tribunal, and it is not the agency that brought the matter to it.

Admissibility hearings

An admissibility hearing is held when the Canada Border Services Agency alleges that somebody is inadmissible to Canada and refers the matter here. The Division hears the allegation, hears the response, and decides. If it finds the person inadmissible it issues a removal order; if it does not, the person may enter or remain.

It is not an application and it is not a review of one. Nobody asks to be here. For some people the decision can be appealed to the Immigration Appeal Division and for others it cannot, and which of those applies turns on status and on the ground alleged.

Detention reviews

Where somebody is detained under immigration law, the Division reviews the detention at intervals set by law. At each review it decides whether detention should continue, or whether release is appropriate and on what conditions. These reviews are not applied for — they happen, and the first one comes quickly.

What matters practically is that a release plan is something that can be prepared, and that it is far better prepared before a review than during one. Who would supervise, where the person would live, what security can be offered: those are questions the Division asks, and an answer assembled in advance is a different answer from one improvised at a hearing.

Everything here moves faster than anything else

Admissibility hearings and detention reviews run on statutory timetables rather than on service standards, and they do not wait for a file to be assembled. If somebody you know has been detained or referred to a hearing, the useful question is not what the process is in general but what date has already been set.

What happens after a decision

A removal order made here takes effect on its own terms. Whether anything can be done about it depends on the status of the person and on the ground of inadmissibility, and the routes are narrow: an appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division for those who have one, and an application for leave and judicial review at the Federal Court otherwise. Both have deadlines of their own, and both are shorter than people expect.

Where Skylam comes in

An admissibility hearing or a detention review is not an application, and most of the immigration advice written for applicants does not apply to it. Skylam helps you understand what the Division has been asked to decide, identify what is at stake, and make sure the people around you know what is happening and when.

This is the part of the Board where representation by counsel matters most, so we will say plainly when that is what your situation calls for, and work alongside immigration counsel on your file.