Are you inadmissible to Canada?

How Can NextGen Help You?

Procedural Fairness Letter

Decision makers are required to follow the rules of procedural fairness. A procedural fairness letter can be issued for many reasons but always means that the officer assigned to your file has concerns with your application. Some common reasons for the issuance of this type of letter include:

• Genuineness of Relationship (Sponsorship Application)

• Misrepresentation

• Criminal Inadmissibility

• Medical Inadmissibility

• Security Concerns

• Wrong NOC or documentation in an Express Entry Application

Receiving a procedural fairness letter is serious and it is the only opportunity you will have to address the concerns with your application before a decision is made. How you respond to the officer’s concerns can be the difference in an approval or a refusal of your application. It is highly recommended to seek professional help in order to submit a detailed response with accompanying documents.

Criminal Rehabilitation or Temporary Resident Permit (TRP)

Under Canada’s immigration law, you may not be allowed into Canada if you have committed or been convicted of a crime. This includes both minor and serious crimes. To determine if your conviction renders you inadmissible, you must first equate the crime to the Criminal Code of Canada to understand the severity of the offence if it were to have occurred in Canada.

If you are criminally inadmissible to Canada, there are two primary options available to you: Criminal Rehabilitation and TRP. In most cases:

• If five years have passed since the end of your criminal sentence, you may be eligible to apply for criminal rehabilitation, a permanent wipe of your criminal inadmissibility to Canada. 

• If less than five years have passed, and you have a valid reason to enter Canada, you can request a TRP. An officer will decide if the reason for entry need to Canada outweighs the safety risks to Canadians and Canadian society. 

Outside of criminality, there are many others reasons to request a TRP. A TRP may be requested to overcome other types of inadmissibility, such as loss of status, violations of the Act, or exceptional circumstances.

Humanitarian and Compassionate Consideration

Section 25 is a very important provision in Canada’s immigration Act. In 2015 the Supreme Court of Canada issued its most significant immigration judgment in almost twenty years, the Kanthasamy v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) decision. This decision changed the way officers assess applications for Canadian permanent residence on H&C grounds using a much more holistic approach. The Kanthasamy decision determined that officers making determinations on H&C applications must consider and weigh all the relevant facts and factors, and need not evaluate them against overly strict criteria as previously seen.

Applicants who qualify for economic and family reunification programs (like express entry or spousal sponsorship), but are inadmissible to Canada (criminality, misrepresentation, medical) may request their inadmissibility be waived for H&C reasons. In these cases, the applicant’s hardship must outweigh their inadmissibility. Applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and approved only in exceptional circumstances.