What can I do if I think I am at risk?

Try to regularize your status

If you think you might be at risk, some immediate steps you can take include taking steps to maintain or regularize your status in Canada and connecting with community organizations resisting Canada’s efforts to remove people from their families and communities. 

Maintaining and regularizing immigration status in Canada 

This is general information only, and it is important to get legal advice about your specific circumstances. As a starting point, you may be able to get free advice from a Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) clinic in your neighbourhood. You can find your clinic by entering your postal code on the LAO website here: https://www.legalaid.on.ca/legal-clinics/. Not all community legal clinics provide help with immigration and refugee law issues, but they might be able to point you in the right direction and help connect you with resources. 

Some options to maintain or gain status in Canada that you may want to discuss with a lawyer, paralegal or registered immigration consultant include:

• Appeals and Judicial Reviews 

If your application to immigration is refused, it is important to get legal advice about what options you might have to appeal or judicially review the negative decision. For example, if your refugee claim is refused, you may be able to submit an appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD). Making the appeal to the RAD on time may give you protection from removal until the appeal is decided. Not every refugee claimant has the right to an appeal to the RAD (e.g. if you crossed from the United States at a land border and made a claim as an exception to the Safe Third Country Agreement). If you cannot appeal your refugee decision, or another type of immigration application is denied (such as an Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) or Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) application), you may be able to make a judicial review application to the Federal Court of Canada instead (this may not get you automatic protection from removal, but might be important to exercise your other rights). There are very quick and strict timelines for appeals and judicial reviews (usually 15 days after getting the negative decision in Canada) so it is important to get advice right away if you get a negative decision.

• Refugee and Person in Need of Protection Claims: 

A refugee claim can only be made once in Canada, and it must be made before you are found inadmissible to Canada (so before a CBSA officer says you can’t enter or remain in Canada). When you make a refugee claim, a conditional removal order will be issued (but nothing happens until a final decision is made on your case). If you made a refugee claim and it was refused, it is very important to get legal advice about whether you can make an appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) or make a judicial review application to Federal Court. If you have a right to an appeal to the RAD and you file it in time, the automatic stay of removal continues until a decision is made on the appeal. If you don’t have a right of appeal, you can make an application for judicial review to the Federal Court but may not have an automatic stay of removal. The appeal and judicial review must be filed within 15 days of getting the negative decision. If you have missed the 15 day limit, get legal advice about whether you can request an extension of time to make your case. But be aware that missing the deadline and asking for an extension of time means that you lose any automatic stay of removal that was in place, and CBSA could try to deport you while the appeal or judicial review is in-process.

Also, you can’t make a refugee claim and a Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) application at the same time (see below for H&C applications). If you make a refugee claim and it is refused, you may be barred for a year from making a H&C (except if there is a risk to life due to inability of your home country to provide adequate health/medical care, or the best interest of a child would be directly impacted). Get legal advice about what option is best in your circumstances before making any application. The Refugee Law Office (RLO) of Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) may be able to help you with a refugee claim, or you may be able to get a LAO certificate to hire a lawyer to help with your refugee claim.

• Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) Application: 

This is an application for permanent residence in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds (because you are not eligible for any other immigration category). Unlike a refugee claim, just submitting an H&C application does not by itself stop deportation and you may wait a long time for a decision on this type of application. If an arrest warrant exists and you submit an H&C application, CBSA will get all your information. It is important to get legal advice about how making an H&C application may impact you before sending it to immigration.

You can only make an H&C application from inside Canada (you cannot make it after being deported). If you make an H&C application and are then deported, there is a high chance that your H&C will be refused (it is very difficult to come back after being deported). You may be able to get legal aid to hire a lawyer to help with your H&C application, or many legal clinics also help people to make H&C applications. There are also fees that need to be paid to Immigration to make the application.

• Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) Application

Unlike an H&C, a TRP application gives temporary not permanent status. They are highly discretionary, time limited and can be revoked at any time. Immigration will consider any previous non-compliance with immigration law and the efforts you made to avoid falling out-of-status, and whether your need to remain in Canada outweighs any health and safety risks to the public. Some factors that immigration may accept as requiring your presence in Canada can include family ties, job qualifications, economic contribution, attendance at an event, etc. Immigration will also consider financial means and if a person will require social assistance. There is a 12-month bar on applying for TRP after a refugee claim is refused, withdrawn or abandoned. There are also fees that need to be paid to Immigration to make the TRP application.

Immigration has public policies in place for issuing TRPs to victims of family violence and trafficking. These are time-limited (now up to 12 months) and could be renewed if you continue to meet the eligibility requirements. There is no fee to apply, and you may also be able to get a work permit and/or study permit with a fee waiver. You would have to submit evidence about the abuse or how your circumstances fit Immigration’s definition of “trafficking.” Legal clinics may be able to help with this type of application (resources are listed below).

• In-Canada Spousal and Common-Law Partner Sponsorship

If you are married to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident or have lived with them in a “marriage-like” (common law) relationship for at least a year, you may be able to be sponsored. It is important to know that just being married (or having a child in Canada) does not stop deportation. And even though out-of-status spouses and common-law partners can be sponsored, submitting a sponsorship by itself may not stop deportation if the sponsorship application is submitted after removal processes have already started. The timing of submitting the application is very important. Get legal advice about your circumstances and how submitting a sponsorship application may affect your immigration status.

If you are already being sponsored by your spouse, and your relationship breaks down due to abuse before the application is decided, you may be able to make an H&C or TRP application instead. Get legal advice about your options and the impact on your status before notifying Immigration about any sponsorship breakdown.

• Renewing or restoring a temporary visa or permit: 

If your visitor, study or work permit is still valid but expiring soon, it is important to extend it before the expiry date. This is because you would then get “maintained status” and can continue to visit, study or work on the same terms as your old permit until a decision is made on the extension application (you cannot leave and re-enter Canada during this time). Note that not all permits can be renewed: for example, Post-Graduation Work Permits (PGWP) can only be extended in very narrow circumstances. If your permit is going to be expiring soon, get legal advice before it expires on what your options might be. If your permit has already expired, get legal advice about whether you can make an application to restore your temporary status form inside Canada (you have to apply within 90 days of falling out of status and meet other requirements).

• Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers (OWPVW) Application 

If you have a closed work permit that hasn’t yet expired (or you applied to renew it before expiry), but you are experiencing abuse at work, you may be able to apply for an Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers. There is no fee to apply. You can apply for this permit even if you have already left your job and have done unauthorized work, but you should get legal advice about how disclosing unauthorized work might affect you in the future before you submit the application. These permits are usually granted for a year and are difficult to renew. If your application is refused, get legal advice. You may be able to apply again with new/additional evidence (if your closed work permit is still valid), ask Immigration for reconsideration or file an application for judicial review at the Federal Court (within 15 days of getting the decision). 

• Other ways to maintain status with an open work permit

You might also want to consider whether you fall into any of the following categories of persons who can apply for an open work permit from inside Canada. Immigration makes changes all the time, so please check and get advice about your specific circumstances at the time you are applying. You may be able to apply for an open work permit if: 

• You are a refugee, refugee claimant, protected person or you’re their family member included on their permanent residence application 
• You are under an unenforceable removal order (e.g. you are awaiting a decision on a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment application, there is a suspension or deferral of removals to your country, or you have gotten first stage approval on an H&C application, etc.) 
• You are a student who’s no longer able to meet the costs of studies (destitute student)
• You have a temporary resident permit (TRP) of at least 6 months duration 
• You are in Canada and being sponsored as a spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner or accompanying dependent child
• You are an international student who graduated from an eligible designated learning institution and meet the requirements for a  Post-Graduation Work Permit under the new rules 
• You are a dependent family member of someone who applied for permanent residence in certain economic class or pilot pathways (including care work). 
• You are the family member of certain foreign workers in Canada and meet the new program and occupation requirements if applying after January 21, 2025 
• You are the spouse or common-law partner of an international student who is a Master’s or PhD student, or studying in a listed eligible or professional program

• Public Policies and Pilots

It is a good idea to check if there are any public policy or pilot pathways that you might be eligible for, in addition to the above options. For example, there is a new Home Care Worker immigration pilot and public policy (although currently closed for applications from workers in-Canada). There is also a pathway for permanent residence for child welfare survivors who came to Canada under the age of 19 years old, as well a temporary policy to facilitate fee-exempt extensions of visitor, study and work permits for Palestinian passport holders already in Canada. However, there are often caps on application intakes (the Homecare cap for 2025 has been reached already), and public policies can be revoked at any time.