Refugee Claims & Refugee Protection

Making a refugee claim in Canada is designed to protect a person whose life is in danger or who faces persecution, torture, and/or cruel or unusual treatment or punishment in their home country or the country of deportation. Refugee claims are therefore made when a person fears returning to his/her home country. To protect the person, s/he is given the chance to make a refugee claim at the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB).

The refugee claim can be made either outside Canada, at the port of entry (POE) or in Canada subsequent to arrival. Refugee claims made outside Canada are the exception as by far the majority of refugee claims are made in Canada or at the port of entry.

Upon claiming refugee protection, a refugee officer at Citizenship and Immigration Canada will meet with you in order to assess if you are eligible for making a refugee claim. In this interview, you will be asked questions relating to why you fear going back to your home country. At the end of the interview, you will be given some forms and asked to fill them and return them to the assessing officer normally within one week. The officer will make an assessment of whether you are eligible to make a refugee claim and if the officer makes a positive determination, your refugee claim will then be forwarded or referred to the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) of the IRB.

Upon acceptance of your eligibility for making a refugee claim, you will be given a form called Personal Information Form (PIF). The PIF form is by far the most important document that a refugee claimant will be asked to fill. The PIF contains all your answers relating to your personal background, family members and most importantly questions relating to why you are afraid of going back home and why you are making a refugee claim. You will be asked to outline whom you fear (as the agent of persecution), why you fear him/her/them and if you have made any attempts in getting protection from your home country’s government and police forces. Your claim will be assessed based on the answers that you will give in this form and later on based on your testimony at the hearing of your refugee claim. You will also be asked to attach to the PIF form any evidence on which you intend to rely in making your refugee claim. This may be evidence that is personal to you, directly relating to your personal circumstances, or evidence that is about your home country’s general country conditions. Personal documents as well as the documents relating to general country conditions are of outmost importance in evaluating your refugee claim and you will be later given a chance to provide more documents.

We therefore strongly encourage you to seek advice from competent and experienced legal counsel before filling the PIF and submitting the supporting documentation. At Citizenship and Immigration Centre (CIC), we have successfully represented many clients from various countries in making their refugee claims. We continuously strive to update our knowledge of the general country conditions in the top 10 refugee producing countries. At CIC we are committed to protecting your rights aggressively.    

We offer a free half hour consultation tfor a preliminary assessment of the strength of your case.

Still have questions? Please contact us anytime! We look forward to hearing from you.

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In support of your refugee claim, you can gather supporting documentation about your the general country conditions of your place of residence from the following sources:

UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency

Amnesty International  

or United Kingdom's Home Office website's Country of Origin Information Centre.