APPEAL TO THE IMMIGRATION APPEAL DIVISION (IAD)
The Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) is responsible for deciding various types of immigration appeals on a wide range of immigration refusals including: (1) appeal of visa refusal to spouses and family class; (2) appeal by permanent residents who face deportation because of being declared “inadmissible” to Canada, for example, as a result of a criminal conviction; (3) appeal by individuals who have lost their permanent resident status due to (a) failure to comply with residency obligation (staying out of Canada too long) (b) or due to misrepresentation (for example, a person who lied in his application forms about a criminal record or about his/her relationship with a spouse or failing to declare a wife / husband / child at the time of landing) to immigration authorities. Also see our section on Residency Obligation.

Appeal of refusal to issue travel document by the Canadian embassy, appeal of Removal Order or appealing inadmissibility declaration due to misrepresentation and/or failure to declare a non-accompanying dependant (wife or child) at time of landing are the most common forms of appeal to IAD.  

Category (1) above includes immigration appeal cases where there is refusal of sponsorship of a parent, grandparent, child, minor orphaned brother or sister or a spouse (wife or husband) by a visa officer. Category (2), however, involves immigration appeal cases in which a removal order has been made against a permanent resident (PR) who faces deportation because of criminal conviction. As noted above, immigration appeal of misrepresentation finding is amongst the most common because it often happens that between the time of applying and the time of arriving in Canada, the applicant's family composition changes (a new born child or the person getting married after submitting application but before getting the visa) and the person failed inform the immigration officials of this change in his family composition. 

In deciding these types of immigration appeals, the IAD can, in certain cases, consider humanitarian and compassionate (H & C) circumstances applicable to the case. For example, in appeal cases where a PR faces deportation because of criminality ( criminal conviction ), the IAD can stop deportation if and when the hardship caused by deportation is either disproportionate or unusual and undeserved. This power is solely vested in the IAD and is referred to as the IAD’s H&C jurisdiction. Therefore, it is imperative that these immigration appeals be prepared thoroughly and carefully presented so that all aspects of the case are brought to the attention of the IAD.

To overcome inadmissibility rulings, Applications for Rehabilitation or an Application for Pardon may also be available in certain circumstances, as a way of dealing with obstacles presented by a past criminal conviction.  

To obtain further information and to take advantage of our free half hour initial consultation, please contact our office at               (416) 365-9473         (416) 365-9473 or               (416) 454-0068         (416) 454-0068 

Our firm has a solid track record in winning these types of immigration appeals to the IAD, whether they are residency obligation appeal, misrepresentation appeal or an appeal from refusal of a spousal sponsorship (Family Class appeal).

To obtain further information regarding other types of immigration appeals please visit the Canadian Immigration Rejection or the Appeals to the Federal Court sections of our website.

Still have questions? Please contact us anytime at (416) 365-9473. We look forward to hearing from you.