Refusals of temporary
visa applications
You have submitted a complete application for a visit, study or work visa for Canada. However, you have received a refusal letter from the visa office abroad that reviewed your application.
Upon reading this letter, you fail to understand the reasons why your application was refused, and you feel the situation is unfair.
Letters sent by Canadian immigration authorities often do not explicitly state the reasons why the officer has refused an application. The letter sent is standardized and lists a series of factors that led the officer to believe that you would not respect your authorized conditions of stay.
Be aware that your burden of persuasion as an applicant is always to convince Canadian authorities that you will leave Canada at the end of your authorized period of stay.
What strategy to adopt after a refusal?
There are generally two avenues available.
The first is to submit a second application correcting the errors or deficiencies of the first. To do so, you may have to make an Access to Information request to obtain the officer’s notes on your file and confirm the reasons for refusal.
The second, if you are satisfied that your file is being treated arbitrarily, is to take your file to the Federal Court to request the intervention of the Federal Court. You can do this from within Canada or from abroad.
We can advise you on these two options and give you the benefit of our experience in this area.
