Missed appeal deadline for PR renewal

[Bentham]

My family and I were living out of Canada for the last 4 years. They denied the renewal for PR even though my wife's company is a Canadian company overseas. We could not get in touch with a lawyer in time as Covid was starting to spread and we wanted a good lawyer. 2 days after our appeal period ended, they extended all filing deadlines indefinitely. We hired a lawyer who then filed the appeal. The lawyer said that the minister's submissions are asking to strike out the whole appeal because we missed the filing deadline by 2 days and that Covid was not an issue back in early March. Lawyer says we may not even get a hearing now. Is this the case? Are we not entitled to a hearing regardless?? We asked the lawyer to explain that Covid was an issue in Iran starting from Jan of 2020. Do we not even get a chance to explain this?

From my reading of case law about extension of appeal deadlines I remember a case where someone missed the deadline by one day. But the last day of the period was some religious holiday and the person was actively practicing their religion and, thus, the deadline was extended. Whether your lawyer can make your case based on covid problems is for the IAD member to decide. I think your lawyer now has time to respond to the IRCC representative's submission. If my recollection is correct, it is 7 days. Check that s/he does not miss this deadline either.

 

[canuck78]

We also don’t know how this family applied for a PR card extension if you must be in Canada to do so. There is no mention of a return visit.