Best thing you can do is get advice from a good immigration lawyer. Good luck.
Refugee status cessation and PRs applying for citizenship
- Thread starter dpenabill
- Start date
Absolutely agree with @scylla: "Best thing you can do is get advice from a good immigration lawyer."
Given the gravity of what is at stake, some further cautionary observations are warranted:
Again, Lawyer-Up, lawyer-up soon . . . and additionally . . . If you have not yet actually made an application for citizenship, DO NOT SUBMIT an application for citizenship without FIRST obtaining the services of not just a good immigration lawyer but one that has had experience dealing with cessation of refugee status cases. DO NOT RUSH making an application for citizenship.
Be sure to get advice from a lawyer who is YOUR LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE (so a lawyer being paid to represent you, to be YOUR lawyer). You probably need more than just a consultation (and absolutely far more than a free consultation).
If you have already applied for citizenship:
If you have already submitted an application for citizenship, SEE a LAWYER as SOON as YOU CAN. Lawyer-Up as SOON as you can. Yes, I am being repetitive. Unless you are prepared to lose status in Canada, do not underestimate the gravity of what is at stake. Remember, there is NO H&C relief from cessation (so no consideration of the best interests of a minor child basis for relief from a cessation determination).
In particular, if you have already submitted an application for citizenship, it might be a good idea to withdraw that citizenship application. Hopefully a good immigration lawyer with cessation experience can guide you in this regard. Thing is, if you have already applied for citizenship then you have thus reported to IRCC the essential facts which establish a particularly "strong presumption of reavailment" (obtaining home country passport and using it to travel to the home country), making the case for cessation of your status in Canada. There is some chance it might slide through without referral to CBSA for investigation, but there is at least a very substantial probability that at the very least this will trigger an investigation which, so far as we have seen in reported cases, typically takes YEARS.
So, some more repetition: There is some chance it might slide through. A very real chance, however, this could lead to the loss of status in Canada and deportation proceedings. And in-between, very substantial odds the best case scenario is YEARS of being in limbo.
(Note: obviously, if you have already submitted an application for citizenship and did not disclose, in the application, the home country passport and trip to the home country, including in address history, that would be grounds to prosecute misrepresentation in addition to cessation.)
Further Explanatory Observations:
You describe circumstances which might constitute the core of a defense if CBSA and the Minister of Public Safety decide to pursue cessation proceedings against you. But make no mistake, that is about defending your decisions and actions in an effort to overcome the presumption that you have reavailed yourself of your home country's protection.
That means, if the government decides to pursue cessation, a year or three years (or perhaps longer) AFTER the government makes that decision to pursue cessation (published decisions suggest it is taking a long time for these cases to be litigated before the RPD) you will have the opportunity to present evidence and argument to the RPD that will (you hope) overcome the presumption of reavailment. You would get that opportunity a year or three years or so AFTER cessation proceedings are commenced. And you might indeed succeed in making the argument that your evidence overcomes the presumption of reavailment. In other words, even if the government proceeds with cessation, there is a chance (a year or so down the road from then) that you will not lose your status in Canada despite having obtained a home country passport and having used it to travel to your home country.
But even before the government makes a decision about whether or not to pursue cessation, there are many, many indications that individuals in these situations can be in limbo for YEARS waiting for CBSA or the Minister of Public Safety to decide whether to proceed with cessation.
In the post here preceding yours I discuss, for example, the Baingana case, which is here: Baingana v. Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), 2024 FC 1991, https://canlii.ca/t/k8955 and in that case Baingana applied for citizenship in 2018 but it was not until February 2023 that cessation proceedings were brought against Baingana, and not until November 2023 the RPD made its decision.
The Merits; the case for reavailment versus the case overcoming the presumption of reavailment:
This is lawyer-stuff. Really, for-sure, no doubt, this is lawyer-stuff.
I am offering some observations about this in order to illustrate and emphasize this is lawyer-stuff. As I mention above, you describe some circumstances which might be the core of a defense to cessation, which might support the argument there was no intent to reavail home country protection sufficiently to overcome the presumption of reavailment. It would be a mistake, however, for me to offer any opinion about how strong your case is or what the odds are, let alone suggest how to best proceed from here.
To assess the strength of your case, the strength of the evidence you might have to prove there was no intention to reavail home country protection (despite having in fact done so by obtaining a home country passport, and using it, and traveling to the home country), demands examining and considering many more details in your situation. I am NOT suggesting sharing more detail here. While those familiar with these actions (such as some of us here) can recognize details that could have a lot of influence, none of us (other than experienced lawyers) have anywhere near sufficient understanding to offer any useful insight into how such details will actually influence a real case.
For example, you mention having police reports and such to support your case. If these include reports from police in your home country, depending on what they show and how you obtained them, they might actually work against you (especially if they represent any reliance on authorities in the home country). This stuff can and often will get complicated, complicated enough that it can require a focused effort by a good and diligent lawyer to sort out what helps and what might hurt.
Leading to the best interests of a minor child . . . what constitutes a compelling reason for taking the risk of going to your home country is one thing, and that can be a factor which helps make the case you did not intend to reavail home country protection but you were, rather, in effect forced to go there to protect your children. BUT if despite that, if notwithstanding the reasons for your trip there the RPD determines you have not overcome the presumption of reavailment, the best interests of your children will not stop the loss of your status in Canada.
All of which is to say . . . yeah, time to lawyer-up . . . lawyer-up BEFORE applying for citizenship . . . or, if you have already applied, lawyer-up real soon.
Thank you so much, dpenabill, for your thoughtful and detailed response. I truly appreciate your time and insights.
To clarify, my applications are ready in my online profile, but I have not yet submitted them. Additionally, the police reports and Children’s Aid Society records I have are from Canada, not my home country, so they should reflect the genuine nature of my case, supported by documented evidence.
That said, I do feel a bit hesitant to contact a lawyer at this stage. My concern is that I believe they may offer the same advice, based on the immigration rules and laws, which I am already aware of. However, I did take proactive steps and reached out to both IRB and IRCC. I inquired about any open investigations under my name and file numbers, and both confirmed that there are no ongoing investigations or red flags in their systems, which has given me some peace of mind.
At this point, I am seriously considering waiting until 2027 before submitting my citizenship application. This would allow me to meet the five-year travel history requirement, and in the meantime, I plan to apply for a Travel Document and surrender my home country passport. I am willing to wait a few more years before applying for citizenship, as I feel this may provide more security in the long run.
The only factor that gives me some stress is the potential changes under a conservative government in the future. There’s always the concern that new laws or stricter immigration rules may be implemented, and that uncertainty weighs on me a bit.
Again, I greatly appreciate your insights, and I will continue to carefully evaluate my options moving forward. Thank you once again for your time and assistance.
Since you have not actually submitted a citizenship application and there are no active proceedings involving your status, I agree that it makes sense to wait, to defer obtaining the assistance of a lawyer for now.
And what you are contemplating, waiting until your travel to the home country is outside the five year eligibility period, and thus there would be no need to report/declare that travel or address history in the citizenship application, is something I have considered suggesting. And indeed I would suggest that except given what is at stake, in conjunction with what is not known, getting help from a competent, experienced lawyer is the better option . . . but yeah, the better option BEFORE making the citizenship application. No rush to get a lawyer's help in the meantime.
It does appear likely there will be a change in government this coming year and not only to a Conservative government but many are betting it will be a majority Conservative government, which would give that government a strong hand to make changes. That said, while they could adopt more strict requirements for citizenship, my sense is that would be a low priority. And the cessation law as applicable to PRs is already as draconian as the Harper government was pushing and it is hard to see changes making it any more so.
The one aspect of grant citizenship that might be targeted for change could be a pet peeve among Conservatives, their apprehension that many just come to get a passport of convenience and are applying-on-the-way-to-the-airport, but that would have no impact on those who have come here to settle permanently in Canada.
As for any assurances from the RPD and IRCC regarding pending actions, that's not worth much, not much at all. The longest phase in cessation actions against PRs (in contrast to those with refugee status who have not yet obtained PR status) appears to be the period during which CBSA is investigating. No one at the RPD or IRCC or even CBSA is likely to acknowledge there is an investigation in progress. Generally the only hint an affected PR-refugee would have that something is pending would derive from questioning during a Port-of-Entry examination when returning to Canada, unless the PR-refugee has a citizenship application pending that is falling behind the processing times. This is NOT to suggest that an investigation is likely taking place in your case. Just that there is virtually no way to find out if that is happening, at least not until there is notice of cessation proceedings (or the application for citizenship is made but then gets bogged down in unexplained non-routine processing).
For now, yeah, waiting is probably OK. Probably a good idea.
Hi,
I attended my citizenship interview on October 30th. I am a PR-Refugee who renewed my home country passport and used it to travel to a third country (Australia). I was questioned by the officer when returning to Canada, and I explained that I was unaware I shouldn't have renewed and used my passport. I gave the same response during my citizenship interview. Since November 2nd, my language and physical presence requirements have been marked as complete, but the prohibition is still under review. Am I in trouble?"
I attended my citizenship interview on October 30th. I am a PR-Refugee who renewed my home country passport and used it to travel to a third country (Australia). I was questioned by the officer when returning to Canada, and I explained that I was unaware I shouldn't have renewed and used my passport. I gave the same response during my citizenship interview. Since November 2nd, my language and physical presence requirements have been marked as complete, but the prohibition is still under review. Am I in trouble?"