What this is, and when it becomes available
This is the last protection step rather than an alternative to the first. It is available only once a removal order is in force, it is normally decided on paper, and it looks at what has changed rather than at what was already decided.
The stay of removal turns on the fifteen days
Notification that you may apply stays the removal order by itself. Filing within fifteen days of that notification keeps the stay alive, and an application filed in that window cannot be decided until at least thirty days after notification.
If you do not apply within the fifteen days, the stay ends on that basis alone. That is not the same as losing the application, because a later one can still be made and decided, but it is made without the protection of a stay, which changes everything about the situation you are in. Where notification was mailed it counts as given seven days after it was sent to the last address you gave the department, so an old address on file can consume the whole window before you know it exists.
- You cannot start it at will. In almost every case the department triggers it by notifying you. A person named in a security certificate, and certain others, may apply without notification. The provision also excludes protected persons and people recognised as refugees by another country to which they can be returned, who cannot use it at all.
- It is paper based, and a hearing is discretionary. Decided by a delegate of the Minister. It is not a second refugee hearing and treating it as one is the most common error made with it.
- The new evidence limit applies only if a claim of yours was rejected. Where the Board rejected your claim, you are confined to evidence that arose after that rejection, or was not reasonably available then, or that you could not reasonably have been expected to present. If you never had a claim decided at all, which is the position of anyone found ineligible on the one year or fourteen day grounds, that limit does not apply to you and you may put the whole risk case. Being told otherwise would leave you thinking you had nothing to file.
- Two absolute bars. An extradition authority to proceed, and a claim found ineligible on the Safe Third Country ground. The second of those is often missed because official summaries say most people can apply.
- A time bar of twelve months, or thirty six in one case, and the Minister can lift it. It runs from the rejection, withdrawal or abandonment of a claim, or from a previous protection application, measured from the latest relevant date. Thirty six months applies to a national of a designated country of origin, and no country is currently designated. A deemed rejection, and a rejection under section F of the exclusion article, are carved out. Separately the Minister may exempt the nationals or former habitual residents of a country, people from part of a country, or a class of them, so being inside the twelve months is not always the end of it.
- For some people, success means a stay rather than status. Where protection cannot be conferred, the outcome is a country specific stay of removal, and it can be cancelled. That group is narrower than a general reference to exclusion suggests, because it reaches a claim rejected under section F of the exclusion article and not one rejected under section E.
The removal orders, and what each one costs you
Which order you are under decides whether you can ever come back, and the difference between two of them turns on a single administrative step taken within thirty days.
| Order | Can you return | Authorisation needed | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Departure order | Yes, if it was properly enforced. You must appear before an officer, obtain a certificate of departure, leave within thirty days of the order becoming enforceable, and be authorised to enter your destination | No, where properly enforced | No bar. But miss the thirty days and it becomes a deportation order, which is permanent. The thirty days is suspended while you are detained or while a stay is in place |
| Exclusion order | Yes, after the bar expires | Yes, during the bar | One year from enforcement, or five years where the order followed a misrepresentation finding |
| Deportation order | Only with written authorisation | Yes, at any time afterwards | Indefinite |
An authorisation to return to Canada costs $492.50. There is an exemption from needing one where the order was made because a family member was inadmissible, which applies to both exclusion and deportation orders, and a removal order made under a security certificate always requires authorisation. A removal order that is enforceable obliges the person to leave immediately, and it must be enforced as soon as possible.
The thirty day step on a departure order is the most consequential piece of administration in this branch. Comply with it and you may return without special permission. Miss it and the order converts into a deportation order, which bars return indefinitely unless authorisation is granted. Two very different futures separated by one appointment.
Requirements checker
A structured way to see where you stand against the published criteria. It returns an indication only, not an eligibility decision, not legal advice, and not a prediction that you will be invited.
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