Refugee status cessation and PRs applying for citizenship

[Yuki.03]

Request ATIP and see what’s under location section, if it’s not “grant cessation” so you are good.

For the RTD you just can mention that you are protected person and you need the RTD, I did that.

they said they just recently travelled to home country and came back (few days ago and the agent said they would be issuing a cessation) so the cesstation probably isnt in the system as yet. and this happend while the citizenship application is still inprogress. so i doubt it would be updated until cbsa contacts ircc.... if they do. i know OP can probably get away with renewing and travelling on their home country passport with less likelihood of reavailment/cessation but the fact he went home to the country that might be the big issue here and a red flag. but good luck to them.

 

[dpenabill]

hi dpenabill.

Hi all. I have a few questions i want to ask. Any help will be extremely appreciated
1- i got my refugee status and got PR 3 years ago. I had no idea travelling on home country passport is not advised so i renewed my passport and travelled to dubai for business. I travelled 3 times to dubai since then. And just a few days to my home country as well. I had no idea if it’s advisable or not. Nobody told me that. Upon returning to canada 3rd time CBSA officer told me he will send cessation for me. But he didnt look confident as his fellow officers were whispering that its a long process and we may not get approved by the court. Anyway he told me he’ll still call for cessation and its immigration office which will contact me or not its upon them and he let me go. I apologize again that i didnt know its not advisable. Its been 3 days i haven’t received any email or letter from them. So am i good or not?
2- I applied for citizenship and my test and background check is marked as complete. Will this whole thing affect my citizenship??
3- i have sponsored my wife also. Will it affect her sponsorship or not??
4- i want to get RTD now but that form asks if you have any other country passport, so what should i answer them and how can i explain my situation as i have a grown business in dubai and dubai doesnt allow RTD to enter. They will only allow me to enter on my home country passport.
Thanks in advance.

It would be a good idea to meet with a lawyer, one that you PAY for the lawyer's time to actually review the details in your situation, BEFORE you engage in any further transactions with IRCC or CBSA . . . before leaving Canada again, before applying for the RTD, before attempting to sponsor a family member.
. . . unless contacted, in which case you need to respond appropriately. Obviously, for example, if contacted by IRCC regarding your citizenship application, you will need to appropriately respond . . . you can hope they schedule you for the oath, but obviously there is some risk that will not happen. If CBSA has initiated an investigation into reavailment and cessation, that will block getting citizenship.

These things tend to move very slowly so there should be plenty of time to go over all this with a lawyer. IN DETAIL (not just a general consultation, but a paid-for review of your situation to get a more or less formal opinion).

I am NO expert. I will make an effort to come back and offer more observations, but again I am NO expert . . . AND cessation is a big, big deal.

The "I didn't know" defense carries some weight BUT NOT a LOT. So there is far more to evaluating your situation, which would be best done by a competent lawyer.

 

[Rays1080]

Hi all. I have a few questions i want to ask. Any help will be extremely appreciated
1- i got my refugee status and got PR 3 years ago. I had no idea travelling on home country passport is not advised so i renewed my passport and travelled to dubai for business. I travelled 3 times to dubai since then. And just a few days to my home country as well. I had no idea if it’s advisable or not. Nobody told me that. Upon returning to canada 3rd time CBSA officer told me he will send cessation for me. But he didnt look confident as his fellow officers were whispering that its a long process and we may not get approved by the court. Anyway he told me he’ll still call for cessation and its immigration office which will contact me or not its upon them and he let me go. I apologize again that i didnt know its not advisable. Its been 3 days i haven’t received any email or letter from them. So am i good or not?
2- I applied for citizenship and my test and background check is marked as complete. Will this whole thing affect my citizenship??
3- i have sponsored my wife also. Will it affect her sponsorship or not??
4- i want to get RTD now but that form asks if you have any other country passport, so what should i answer them and how can i explain my situation as i have a grown business in dubai and dubai doesnt allow RTD to enter. They will only allow me to enter on my home country passport.
Thanks in advance.

If I may ask, when you arrived in Canada and were granted refugee status, have you been told about not being allowed to go to your home country or using and renewing your passport from back home?

 

[Rays1080]

Hi guys! I have been lurking around here for a while now and finally decided to post my case up here. I became a convention refugee of Canada in 2014 through a private sponsorship (CRS - Convention refugee abroad, sponsored by a SAH) along with my wife and 3 daughters. The primary applicant was my wife. Now we had no idea what this whole cessation thing even was, really just assumed that those who are PR enjoy the same benefits as citizens and also because people who came to Canada under the same program as us had made trips back home literally 15 days after landing and today they are citizens. We had to delay our citizenship applications at first due to language reasons and then financial. Coming back to the point, unknown to this whole cessation thing, we had to make 2 emergency trips back home. One in 2018 for about 28 days(bad news- we renewed our passports this year too! again we were never made aware of anything against this, neither by any Canadian authority neither the SAH that sponsored us) and one this year, for which my wife and younger daughter came back within 2 months (this was also delayed up to 2 months because of flight cancellations due to covid) while me and my other 2 daughters had to stay back waiting for our travel documents as our pr renewal applications were returned earlier this year and had to resend. When my wife and daughter came back they easily passed everything and since they were travelling on PR weren't referred to immigration. When we came back earlier this month and since we were travelling on our national passport, yes you guessed it right, we were sent to the immigration room where the officer after looking through our passport and expired pr cards began to question us. First question being that how did we come to Canada in the first place. I told her "through refugee immigration" but at that time didn't get to tell her about the kind of refugee application and that I wasn't the main applicant. After that, she asked us whether we still feared for our life and we said yes. Then she asked us the purpose of the trip and told us that how we shouldn’t be travelling back home and also not have the passport on us. Then she sent us to sit, our documents were still with her and I am not sure if she made copies of the passport or the PR but she called us back 5-8 minutes later and told us that she will be putting in a report and also asked for our boarding passes to copy. Once she came back I asked her what the next step should be, she said there may not be any next step and if there is we will be contacted. I asked what is the worst case scenario and she said worst case scenario you lose your status and that was it. Said thanks and she let us go. Now I have a few questions:

1. Since my wife was the primary applicant and not us we are not considered refugees in our own right? I want to refer back to the 2 cases ( Canada vs esfand -https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2015/2015fc1190/2015fc1190.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQAGZXNmYW5kAAAAAAE&resultIndex=1 and Canada vs Heidari Gezik https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2015/2015fc1268/2015fc1268.html searchUrlHash=AAAAAQAGZXNmYW5kAAAAAAE&resultIndex=5) In these 2 cases since both were outland refugees and dependents on the primary applicant, they were considered as convention refugees and henceforth kept their status. Does the same apply to me and my daughters and considering that these were a little high profile cases, and if so shouldn't the cbsa officer be aware of this and our status through the info available to her and does cbsa hearing agent consider our status before filing a cessation application or will we have to prove this during the hearing?
2. Worst case scenario, my wife loses her status for going back, can I sponsor her back as a spouse or no?

Your answers will be greatly appreciated

I am not sure if you are still active here, but just wanted to check if you can provide any updates on how things are going with you and your family now?

 

[Rays1080]

Actually, I just heard back from my friend who got this cessation application recently. She lawyered up already and her lawyer did mention that you can apply and get Open Work permit if the RPD gives negative decision (since PR status would be out)

Do you have any recent update on your friend's case?

 

[Illusionist4008]

@dpenabill


I have a question:

Im PR from protected person status, never been back home since I came to Canada.

Applied for citizenship in March 2023, BG and Test only completed.

Now my Dad is sick back home and I want to see him. If I send a medical report to the IRCC can they expedite the process ? Knowing that it’s the same country I claimed refugee from.

Also my RTD isn’t allowed in Dubai, and my Dad soon will be there to join my brother to take care of him, should I mention that my Dad will be in Dubai after he got sick and the medical report generated from back home?

I wanna see my Dad in Dubai but the medical report from back home already, I dun wanna mess up my application, but that’s the truth. I’m feeling helpless and I dunno what to do!

 

[Yuki.03]

@dpenabill


I have a question:

Im PR from protected person status, never been back home since I came to Canada.

Applied for citizenship in March 2023, BG and Test only completed.

Now my Dad is sick back home and I want to see him. If I send a medical report to the IRCC can they expedite the process ? Knowing that it’s the same country I claimed refugee from.

Also my RTD isn’t allowed in Dubai, and my Dad soon will be there to join my brother to take care of him, should I mention that my Dad will be in Dubai after he got sick and the medical report generated from back home?

I wanna see my Dad in Dubai but the medical report from back home already, I dun wanna mess up my application, but that’s the truth. I’m feeling helpless and I dunno what to do!

you can try, i had a friend whose mom had terminal cancer, stage 4. they expedited his case for citizenship and the certificate to get his passport and his passport. but unfortunately the day he arrived back to his home country she died a few hours before he landed .... hopefully they will for you.

 

[Illusionist4008]

you can try, i had a friend whose mom had terminal cancer, stage 4. they expedited his case for citizenship and the certificate to get his passport and his passport. but unfortunately the day he arrived back to his home country she died a few hours before he landed .... hopefully they will for you.

Sorry to hear that

So it’s possible to send a medical report from the same country I claimed a refugee status?
Did ur friend send the medical report from the same country he claimed a refugee?

I dunno how does it work! So I simply say “I wanna go back home to see my Dad so plz expedite my application” aren’t they gonna say “ Why do you want to go back the same country u fled from?!”

 

[scylla]

Sorry to hear that

So it’s possible to send a medical report from the same country I claimed a refugee status?
Did ur friend send the medical report from the same country he claimed a refugee?

I dunno how does it work! So I simply say “I wanna go back home to see my Dad so plz expedite my application” aren’t they gonna say “ Why do you want to go back the same country u fled from?!”

I personally don't see any issue obtaining a medical report from your home country. You didn't obtain it yourself. Someone will have gotten it for you. It's certainly worth it to try to expedite. You would want to provide the medical evidence to show the seriousness of your father's condition and explain this in the request for the expedite. Worst case scenario they say no to the expedite. It's worth a shot. Good luck.

 

[dpenabill]

@dpenabill


I have a question:

Im PR from protected person status, never been back home since I came to Canada.

Applied for citizenship in March 2023, BG and Test only completed.

Now my Dad is sick back home and I want to see him. If I send a medical report to the IRCC can they expedite the process ? Knowing that it’s the same country I claimed refugee from.

Also my RTD isn’t allowed in Dubai, and my Dad soon will be there to join my brother to take care of him, should I mention that my Dad will be in Dubai after he got sick and the medical report generated from back home?

I wanna see my Dad in Dubai but the medical report from back home already, I dun wanna mess up my application, but that’s the truth. I’m feeling helpless and I dunno what to do!

I agree with the response by @scylla, adding my condolences. I do not know how this might go; no idea actually.

 

[alexmathew244]

Has anyone seen any new cessation cases on Canlii? I haven't seen any lately. Maybe all the cases are waiting up on gagaram case which is expected to take place in April or May. Anyone has any ideas?

 

[alexmathew244]

Do you have any recent update on your friend's case?

no new update, still waiting.

 

[Illusionist4008]

Has anyone seen any new cessation cases on Canlii? I haven't seen any lately. Maybe all the cases are waiting up on gagaram case which is expected to take place in April or May. Anyone has any ideas?

Who’s Canlii?! And what do you mean by “gagaram case”?!

 

[dpenabill]

Has anyone seen any new cessation cases on Canlii? I haven't seen any lately. Maybe all the cases are waiting up on gagaram case which is expected to take place in April or May. Anyone has any ideas?

New as of when? New in what regard?

Yes, there continue to be various decisions addressing refugee status cessation by the Federal Court, as published in CanII, with some signs that the Federal Court may be allowing relief from the consequences of cessation in certain circumstances, or at least allowing further litigation before deportation.

Lin v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2024 FC 185 (CanLII), https://canlii.ca/t/k2mw4
February decision in which the Fed Court in effect remanded application for PR based on H&C and alternative application for TRP



Farahani v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2024 FC 423 (CanLII), https://canlii.ca/t/k3gtw
March decision in which the Fed Court seems to have applied a rather strict standard to decisions by the RPD to justify setting aside the RPD cessation decision; in this case Farahani had traveled to the home country 16 times. At a glance this seems to signal a recognition, at least by this particular Federal Court Justice, of the profoundly detrimental impact of cessation and the court's willingness to give at least some of those affected some significant procedural protection . . . while how it will eventually go is not clear, there is not much to suggest Farahani will succeed in avoiding cessation longterm.


IN CONTRAST there is
Naqvi v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2024 FC 365 (CanLII), https://canlii.ca/t/k3k2z
This too is a March 2024 decision but in which the Federal Court upheld cessation decision by the RPD against Syed Asad Hussain Naqvi who only traveled to the home country ONCE, to visit an ill parent.


Another related case, from February, is Karam v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2024 FC 343 (CanLII), https://canlii.ca/t/k35hj in which the Federal Court allowed an appeal in effect allowing this individual, whose status in Canada was lost attendant cessation, to pursue claims precluding deportation, based on a need for protection, despite the cessation.

There may be more that are "new" relative to previously discussed decisions.

There are reasons to not put much weight on the Farahani decision, in terms of what it says about others facing cessation, based on some specific factors in that case . . . whereas, in contrast, especially in regards to those who are assessing their risks, the Naqvi case very much indicates that Canada is continuing to prosecute cessation and that even just one trip to the home country can result in cessation. So, again, those potentially at risk for cessation absolutely should NOT be traveling to the home country.

 

[scylla]

Has anyone seen any new cessation cases on Canlii? I haven't seen any lately. Maybe all the cases are waiting up on gagaram case which is expected to take place in April or May. Anyone has any ideas?

There have been several new cases. I've been lazy and have not been posting them. Here's one more recent one: https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2024/2024fc486/2024fc486.html