What is procedural fairness?
Procedural fairness is a broad concept that applies to administrative law including immigration law in Canada.
In order to ensure a fair procedure under immigration law, when officers are reviewing applications, they must:
Be unbiased when assessing an application,
Tell the applicant their concerns about the application, and
Give the applicant an opportunity to respond to their concerns.
Usually, the concerns are about issues in an application that may lead to a negative decision.
What is a procedural fairness letter?
The officer informs the applicant about their concerns by issuing a procedural fairness letter.
When you receive this letter, this means there are critical issues in your application. Therefore, you should treat this letter seriously.
When might I receive a procedural fairness letter?
Generally speaking, after the assessment of an application, if the officer has to render a refusal based on some issues in the application, they will first issue this letter.
In other words, if an application is incomplete, IRCC will just simply return the application because it hasn’t been assessed.
Further, the officer does not send this letter if an application is successful.
What are the common issues in a procedural fairness letter?
First of all, the issues that may result in a refusal must be specified by the immigration law or public policies.
Although there might still be a variety of reasons for a refusal, the following are some of the most common issues in a letter:
Eligibility,
Inadmissibility such as criminality, health, etc.,
Misrepresentation,
Lack of supporting documents, and
Genuineness of relationship.
What should I do when I receive a procedural fairness letter?
When you receive this letter, you should:
We can also help you to address the issues and reply to the letter on your behalf.
On the other hand, if you didn’t reply to this letter properly, your application will be refused.
How to address the issue in the letter?
Firstly, there is no one simple answer to this question because every application is different.
However, here is a list of tips when you are addressing the issue in the letter:
Identify and understand the issue,
Research on the immigration law or public policy, and
Focus on the issue when you find solutions.
If you don’t understand the letter or how to address the issues, we can help you.
What will happen after I respond?
Often, if you have properly addressed the issues, it is likely that you will receive a positive decision.
On the other hand, you might receive a refusal decision if your response wasn’t helpful.
What if I receive a negative decision?
First and foremost, check the reasons for the refusal because they affect how you may challenge it.
Secondly, in general, there are remedies for most negative decisions.
Depending on the type of your application, you may:
Reapply,
Appeal to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB),
Apply for reconsideration, or
Apply for judicial review at the Federal Court.
For example, if you have a refused sponsorship application, you can either reapply or appeal it to the IRB. To learn more about sponsorship appeal, please visit our Service page.
We can also help you to determine the most practical solution to your negative decision.
What we do?
Firstly, we help LGBT people to immigrate to Canada, and we create a safe and friendly place for people with immigration needs.
Then, we personalize our services for you, which may include any of the following:
Review the letter and your application, if applicable,
Find solutions,
Conduct legal research,
Address the issues,
Provide other advice and instructions as needed that could be critical to a successful application, and
Complete and submit the response on your behalf.
Book an initial assessment today or contact us directly.
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