Admissibility Hearing
YOU SELECTED THIS OPTION BECAUSE:You believe you are not inadmissible to Canada and wish to pursue an “admissibility hearing” to permanently resolve/cure your entry.
If denied entry into Canada, a Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) officer will generally give the option of an “admissibility hearing” to confirm that you are indeed inadmissible into this country.
The majority of admissibility hearings does not involve entry at the border but occur when a foreign worker or student or permanent resident of Canada commits a crime in Canada where he resides.
An admissibility hearing takes place before the Immigration Appeals Division (IAD) of the Immigration Refugee Board (IRB). Somewhat equivalent to a court of law, an IAD hearing is presided by an IRB “Member” with counsel on opposing ends (the Minister’s Counsel and your Practitioner). The venue will generally take place in a major city such as in Montreal, Toronto or in Vancouver. Admissibility hearings are rarely heard at the border.
If the Member agrees that you are not inadmissible, you will be allowed to enter (or stay) Canada subject to meeting the other requirements of the Immigration Refugee and Protection Act (IRPA). If the Member concurs with the Minister, you will be forcibly removed from Canada via a Deportation Order.
While it may be tempting to have an impartial party assess your admissibility, it is far better to “withdraw” your application to enter Canada than to request an admissibility hearing. While a CBSA officer may be unfair, or harsh, the fact remains that the officer generally “gets it right” when establishing whether you are inadmissible or not. And even if doesn’t, and the firm believes he was wrong, it is better to withdraw and to try again with better, or additional, supporting documentation.
In short, unless exceedingly prepared and confident that you can win, and only upon the “go ahead” of a licensed admissibility specialist (such as this firm), would we recommend that you request an Admissibility Hearing.
An Admissibility Hearing is not a strategy to enter Canada, even temporarily. If you wish for an admissibility hearing, you will either be detained at the border or a nearby jail until the hearing can take place, or more typically, allowed to leave only to return to Canada for the hearing date (which is generally a week or sometimes even months away).
If you fail to return to Canada for the hearing, you may poison your ability to return – forever. Similarly, if you lose your hearing, a removal order will be enforced against you and you will be permanently barred from entering Canada subject to receiving an “Authorization to Return to Canada” (ARC) via the consulate or Embassy. An ARC is notoriously difficult to obtain and can take 6 to 8 months to obtain (if granted).
Despite the above, there are circumstances when an Admissibility Hearing is the right course of action. If your family and livelihood is at stake, and if you believe the circumstances of your case have merit, by all means we can prepare your admissibility hearing.
The last time we took our chances with an admissibility hearing occurred when a US father with a Negligent Driving – 2nd Degree conviction in the state of WA worked on the US side of the border but lived in Canada with his wife and children. He was deemed inadmissible on the count of Section 249 of the criminal code (Dangerous Driving). Our firm argued that the WA disposition did NOT equate to the Canadian statute. The Member agreed and our client was no longer deemed inadmissible.
Should you feel that your conviction does not match-up with the Canadian criminal code, or the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), or indeed any other Act of Parliament of Canada, and were recently denied entry at the border, and have an extremely important reason to be or remain in Canada, we invite you to schedule a consultation to discuss your case in detail.
