The notice usually comes at a meeting with the Canada Border Services Agency. An officer hands over a form, explains that a removal is moving forward, and tells the person they may apply for a pre-removal risk assessment, commonly called a PRRA. Fifteen days can pass very quickly, particularly when someone is also trying to arrange childcare, keep a job, and find a lawyer in a state of shock.
A PRRA looks at one central issue: what is likely to happen to you if Canada sends you back. It does not ask how long you have lived in Brampton, how well your children are doing at school, or whether your employer would be sorry to lose you. Those facts can be vital in a different kind of application. Understanding that distinction early can stop people from spending their limited time on the wrong evidence.
This article is general information and is not legal advice. The rules on PRRAs and asylum eligibility have changed over time, and IRCC’s guide and the legislation should be checked for current details. If you have received a PRRA notice, treat the date as urgent and get individual advice right away.
Who Can Ask for a PRRA
The word “residents” in everyday use can be misleading here. A PRRA is for a person in Canada who is under a removal order that is in force, and that person may be a failed refugee claimant, a former permanent resident who lost status because of a criminal conviction, or a foreign national who overstayed.
You cannot generally just decide to apply. The regulations provide that a person may apply after being notified by the government, and CBSA usually gives that notification when a person is getting ready for removal. Applying without notification, or filing a late or repeat application, will not give you the same protection discussed below.
Some people are barred from applying, including:
- Those whose claim was found ineligible because they came to Canada from a safe third country under the Safe Third Country Agreement.
- Those who are the subject of an authority to proceed under the Extradition Act.
- Those who have made a claim for refugee protection that was rejected, abandoned, or withdrawn, for a 12-month period after the last decision by the Immigration and Refugee Board or the refusal of leave or judicial review by the Federal Court. A similar 12-month limit applies after an earlier PRRA has been rejected.
That 12-month bar catches many people. If CBSA is prepared to remove you during those 12 months, a PRRA may not be available to you at all. In limited situations, the Minister can exempt nationals of a country from the bar, such as where conditions there have seriously changed. These exemptions are published by IRCC, and it is worth checking whether one applies to you.
People Whose Asylum Claims Are Not Referred to the Board
Federal amendments have changed where some people go first. Under the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, asylum claims made on or after June 3, 2025 will not be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board if they are made more than one year after the person’s first entry to Canada, where that first entry took place after June 24, 2020. Leaving and coming back does not reset that date. A similar rule applies to people who enter irregularly from the United States at the land border and claim after 14 days.
IRCC says people affected by these rules can still apply for a PRRA, and the application stays removal if it is made within the regulatory timelines. For those people, the PRRA may be the only assessment of their risk they receive, and it carries far more weight than a typical last-stage review. Someone who has spent years in Brampton on a study or work permit before fearing a return home should get advice on this before making a claim, as the timing can affect which process applies.
The 15-Day Clock and the Stay of Removal
The stay of removal is the most immediate reason to act quickly. Under the regulations, a removal order is stayed when you are notified that you may apply. That stay stops if you confirm in writing that you will not apply, if you do not apply within the set period, or when the application is rejected. An accepted application leads to a different result, and a stay lasts until a decision is made on permanent residence, or until the stay is cancelled in restricted cases.
An application must be received within 15 days after notification. If you are handed the form in person, notification is given at that moment. If it is mailed to your last address on file, notification is treated as given seven days after it was sent. IRCC’s guide treats an online application as received once it is sent through its Connect portal, and a mailed one by its postmark date. Check the dates on your own notification instead of counting from memory.
The guide also makes clear that a late application, a second or later application, or one made at a port of entry does not stay the removal. Because a repeat application carries no automatic stay, and no entitlement to work, a first timely application is much more valuable than any later one.
Written submissions and evidence follow their own schedule. The form itself goes first, and submissions are due by the date on your notification, generally within a short period after that. The regulations say that an application received within 15 days will not be decided until at least 30 days after notification, which gives a narrow space for submissions. Do not assume that an officer will wait beyond that. If you need more time because a document is coming from abroad, you should say so in writing and send what you have, but a request for more time will not guarantee that the officer will hold off.
What the Officer Decides
The officer assesses whether you are either:
- A Convention refugee, meaning you have a well-founded fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
- A person in need of protection, meaning you personally face a danger of torture, a risk to life, or a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.
For the second test, a generalized risk faced by everyone in a country, such as widespread crime or poor conditions, may not be enough. The risk has to be personal to you, and it normally must exist across the whole country, which means an officer may ask whether you could safely live in another part of it. Inadequate medical care in your home country typically does not meet the test by itself, although medical issues may support other kinds of applications.
You can also expect the officer to look at whether your home state could protect you, a question that is especially important in cases involving family violence, gangs, or threats by private individuals.
The New Evidence Rule
If a refugee claim or an earlier PRRA has been rejected, the assessment is not a second hearing. The guide says that only new evidence, arising since that rejection, may be submitted. The Act’s test on this point is detailed, and officers apply it closely, so it is not enough to re-send the same documents with a new letter.
Evidence that could be new includes:
- Threats made to you or your family after the Board’s decision
- A changed political situation or new violence in your region
- Recent police reports, court documents, or medical reports from your home country
- Events in Canada that have created a new risk, such as a publicly known conversion or political activity
- Up-to-date country condition reports that show a real change
Explain clearly why each document is new and how it relates to you personally. General news clippings without any link to your own situation carry less weight. If you are relying on foreign-language documents, they must be translated. Keep the envelope or message that shows when it arrived, and state how you obtained each document, since officers may question its authenticity.
If you have never had a refugee hearing, you are not limited in the same way, so your submission should be complete and tell the whole story. Treat it as you would a full claim.
Will There Be a Hearing?
Most PRRAs are decided on paper. A hearing may be held in limited circumstances, particularly where there is a serious credibility issue that is central to the decision. This means your written materials may be the only chance you have to speak to the officer. Any affidavit or statement needs to be careful and consistent with what you have said to immigration authorities before. Any inconsistency needs to be explained, not ignored.
If you are called to a hearing, a representative may attend, but their role is to support you. You will have to answer questions yourself.
Applicants have to verify what they submit. IRCC’s guide specifically warns that using artificial intelligence must not compromise the accuracy or integrity of the application. If someone prepared a statement or translation for you, read it through or have it read to you before signing it.
After the Decision
If accepted. You may be allowed to stay and may gain protected person status, which generally allows you to apply for permanent residence. Family members can be included in that application. Restricted applicants are treated differently. People with certain serious criminality, security, human rights, or organized crime findings, or who were excluded under Article 1F of the Refugee Convention, are assessed only on the second set of grounds. If accepted, they get a stay of removal instead of protected status, and it can later be reviewed and cancelled.
If rejected. The stay ends, and you will have to leave. A negative decision may be challenged by way of an application for leave and judicial review in the Federal Court, with a deadline of 15 days for a decision made in Canada. Filing that application does not automatically stop removal, so a separate motion for a stay may be needed if removal is scheduled. Ask CBSA for the details of your removal date and keep attending your appointments. Missing one could lead to a warrant.
Leaving Canada while the PRRA is pending causes the application to be declared abandoned and rejected, so do not travel while waiting for a result.
Other Paths to Consider at the Same Time
A PRRA is focused on risk, so factors such as family ties, long-term establishment in Peel, and the best interests of your children do not belong at its centre. Those may support a humanitarian and compassionate application, which is a separate process with its own restrictions, including its own bar after a failed refugee claim in many cases, and it does not automatically stay removal. You might also ask CBSA to defer a removal in a pressing situation, such as a child’s school year or a medical issue. Deferral is limited, and a written request needs supporting evidence.
Every person’s mix of options depends on their history, so have your complete immigration file in hand when getting advice. If you have the notice now, gather the notification form, any Board or Federal Court decisions, your passport and identity documents, and anything showing what has changed since your last decision. Then contact our office or another qualified representative as soon as you can. You can read more about our immigration law work and other immigration services. No one can promise that a PRRA will succeed, but a timely application with targeted evidence puts your risk properly in front of the officer.
Sources and Further Reading
- IRCC: Guide 5523, Applying for a pre-removal risk assessment
- Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 112: Application for protection
- Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, section 232: Stay of removal, pre-removal risk assessment
- IRCC: New immigration and asylum measures from Bill C-12 have become law