URGENT - Travel document seized at Border

[newcecapplicant]

Good evening Team,

Late this evening my friend a Chilean National whose status had expired 2 months ago went to the border to see if he could re-enter Canada and restore his status.
Perhaps not the right move, I agree.

His passport was seized by the CBSA and he was asked to return tomorrow or within 48 hours with a flight ticket to Chile so the passport can then be sent to the airport where he can retrieve it.

1. I have a couple of urgent questions: Is this legal?

2. He had an LMIA that is expected to be approved for a high skilled high wage position this week. The Service Canada Officer has almost completed the LMIA and will grant it in the coming week.
Chilean nationals need only an ETA to return to Canada, and he does not wish to leave. Is there anything he can do?
We will be taking him to a lawyer tomorrow but I wanted to get some advice from here as well.

many thanks

 

[scylla]

Good evening Team,

Late this evening my friend a Chilean National whose status had expired 2 months ago went to the border to see if he could re-enter Canada and restore his status.
Perhaps not the right move, I agree.

His passport was seized by the CBSA and he was asked to return tomorrow or within 48 hours with a flight ticket to Chile so the passport can then be sent to the airport where he can retrieve it.

1. I have a couple of urgent questions: Is this legal?

2. He had an LMIA that is expected to be approved for a high skilled high wage position this week. The Service Canada Officer has almost completed the LMIA and will grant it in the coming week.
Chilean nationals need only an ETA to return to Canada, and he does not wish to leave. Is there anything he can do?
We will be taking him to a lawyer tomorrow but I wanted to get some advice from here as well.

many thanks

1. I'm not sure what you mean by "is this legal". If you are asking if CBSA can do what they did, then yes, absolutely. Unfortunately it was a very big mistake to flagpole while out of status. You can't flagpole to restore your status and that's why he has problems now. If he wanted to restore his status without returning home, then he should have applied for restoration from within Canada.

2. He should do as CBSA has told him and leave Canada. IMO anything else will just complicate / delay things further with the work permit and cost him more money. He cannot apply for a work permit from within Canada while out of status. And he cannot flagpole to get the work permit since he's out of status. So I don't see how he would get the work permit approved without exiting Canada (or first applying for restoration which isn't guaranteed to be approved and may take months).

 

[newcecapplicant]

1. Yes, I was making sure that it is legal to seize it. And I appreciate your response Scylla. You are right, this is a big mistake.


I was under the impression that we can ask for a return of his seized passport and challenge the officer's decision with a JR perhaps?

 

[scylla]

1. Yes, I was making sure that it is legal to seize it. And I appreciate your response Scylla. You are right, this is a big mistake.


I was under the impression that we can ask for a return of his seized passport and challenge the officer's decision with a JR perhaps?

Whether he can get his passport back is a question for an immigration lawyer.

I'm not sure what a JR gets him. He'll still be in Canada without status and won't be able to apply for a work permit. IMO his best move is to comply and leave Canada. You need to look at it from IRCC and CBSA's perspective. He's violated the terms of his visit by overstaying. If he now wants a work permit, the best thing he can do is comply with the rules otherwise he might find it quite challenging to get the work permit approved. Anyway, see what the lawyer says. Unfortunately he has made a number of very poor decisions including overstaying and then flagpoling while out of status.