Refused. Now What?

Federal Court May Be Your Next Step.

Federal Court filing deadlines move fast. Having experienced counsel ensures deadlines are met and filings are done correctly the first time.

What is judicial review?

When the Immigration and Refugee Board, or an immigration or visa officer at IRCC or a Canadian embassy abroad refuses your case, there is often one path left: judicial review at the Federal Court of Canada. It is demanding litigation with a short deadline — but it is also where wrongly decided cases get reviewed by a judge.

The same Court also reviews any administrative decision made by other types of officers including Canada Border Services Agency officers. If you were refused a deferral of removal, the Federal Court can review an Officer’s decision and decide whether it was reasonable.

Federal Court is also often your final chance to stop a deportation. Filing a timely motion to stop your removal, with strong evidence of the harms that may come to you, your family, or others from your removal, is crucial.

We appear regularly before the Federal Court, including in nationally reported matters. We are based in Ottawa, where the Court's principal office sits.

What are the deadlines for Federal Court?

The clock that governs everything

Where the decision was made Deadline to file for leave

  • Inside Canada‍ ‍15 days from the day you receive the decision

    (most RAD, PRRA, in-Canada H&C, and inland officer decisions)

  • Outside Canada

    (most visa office refusals — study, work, visitor, sponsorship overseas)

    60 days from the day you receive the decision


These are strict limits. The Court can extend them only in limited circumstances, and you must apply for the extension and explain the delay. If a removal date has already been set, a motion to stay your removal may also be needed — and that has its own urgency, often measured in days, not weeks.

If you are unsure which deadline applies to your decision, treat it as urgent and contact us immediately.


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What the Federal Court can do

Judicial review is not an appeal. The Court does not retry your case or substitute its own view of the facts for the decision-maker's. In most cases it asks a narrower, specific question: was the decision reasonable?

If the answer is no, the Court can:

  1. Send the decision back to a different decision-maker for a new determination — the most common outcome.

  2. Quash the decision and set it aside.

  3. In limited cases, direct a particular outcome, where only one lawful result is possible.

The Court does not simply hear your case again in person. Most applications are decided on a written record and written argument, with an oral hearing on the merits only if leave is granted and the parties are heard on it.

The Federal Court process in two stages

Judicial review happens in two steps:

Stage 1 — Leave. First you must apply for leave. The Court decides whether your case is even permitted to proceed, based on written materials alone. Most applications are decided at this stage without an oral hearing, and there is no appeal from a leave refusal. This makes the leave application the single highest-stakes document in the process.

Stage 2 — Judicial review. If leave is granted, the parties file further materials and the matter proceeds to a hearing on the merits, addressing whether the decision was unreasonable or procedurally unfair.

Because most cases live or die at the leave stage, the quality of that first written application is everything.



What makes a strong application?

Where flawed decisions are most often overturned

After appearing regularly before the Federal Court, including in nationally reported litigation, we know where officers and tribunals go wrong:

Unreasonable decisions. The decision-maker's reasoning must be internally coherent and justified against the facts and the law. Decisions that ignore key evidence, misapply legal tests, or reach conclusions the reasoning cannot support are vulnerable to review.

Procedural fairness. You are entitled to know the case against you and to answer it. Decisions made without proper notice, without a genuine opportunity to respond, or by a decision-maker with a reasonable apprehension of bias can be set aside.

PRRA and H&C refusals. These paper-based decisions turn entirely on how the officer engaged with the evidence submitted. A refusal that mischaracterizes country conditions, discounts expert or medical evidence without justification, or fails to grapple with the risk actually alleged is a strong candidate for review.

Visa and permit refusals. Overseas refusals — study permits, work permits, sponsorship applications, visitor visas — are reviewable where the officer's notes and the visible reasoning do not support the conclusion reached, a recurring issue given how brief many visa refusal reasons are.

Inadmissibility findings. Findings involving misrepresentation, criminality, or security grounds carry serious, often permanent consequences and deserve the closest scrutiny for legal and factual error.



Frequently Asked Questions

  • You are not required to have one, but the leave stage is decided entirely on the written record, with no opportunity to explain yourself in person if the application is incomplete or poorly argued. Given that most applications never proceed past this stage, the quality of that document is the whole case.

  •  A leave refusal ends that judicial review application, and there is no appeal. In some circumstances a fresh application may be possible if new grounds arise, but this is the exception, not the rule, which is why the leave application deserves the strongest possible preparation the first time.

  • Generally not. Judicial review examines the reasonableness of the decision, based on the record that was before the original decision-maker. New evidence and personal testimony are not part of the process, with narrow exceptions (such as evidence of a breach of procedural fairness).

  • Usually not directly. The most common remedy sends your case back for a new decision by a different decision-maker, who must decide it properly — it does not usually guarantee the outcome you're seeking, though it removes the flawed decision and gives you a fair opportunity.

  • Not automatically. If you have a scheduled removal, a separate stay motion is generally required, prepared urgently and addressing the legal test directly.

  • We quote fees at the consultation stage based on the type of decision and complexity. Legal Aid Ontario certificates are accepted for eligible clients.

  • Yes. Judicial review is largely paper-based, and we act for clients across Ontario, Quebec, and Canada, with video consultations available in English or with the assistance of an interpreter in your language of choice.

Your deadline may already be running.

Send us your refusal decision by scheduling a consultation today. We will assess your prospects honestly and, where a deadline is close, move immediately.