The email from IRCC is short, and your stomach drops as you read it. An officer has “concerns.” It mentions a document you submitted or a job you listed, and it says you may be found inadmissible. There’s a deadline. You have to reply by a date that seems much too soon.
That is a procedural fairness letter, often called a PFL, and it is one of the most important pieces of mail an immigration applicant can get. It is not a refusal, and a decision hasn’t been made. It is the officer telling you what the problem seems to be and giving you a chance to respond before deciding. Used well, that chance can matter a great deal.
We offer this as general information and not as legal advice on any particular letter. Because the wording of each letter is specific and the consequences can be serious, it makes sense to have someone qualified read yours. IRCC procedures also change over time, so go by the instructions in the letter itself.
Why IRCC Sends These Letters
Canadian administrative law requires fairness. An officer who plans to rely on information you may not know about, or on a concern you could not reasonably have anticipated, generally must give you a chance to respond. The letter is how that happens. It’s most often used when the concern involves your credibility, the authenticity of a document, or information the officer found outside your application.
Common triggers include:
- Document verification. An officer contacted an employer, school, bank, or government office, and the answer did not match what you submitted.
- Inconsistent history. Work or travel listed on this application differs from something on an earlier application, perhaps one filed years ago or by a different representative.
- Undisclosed information. A past refusal, a period of overstaying, a family member, or a charge did not appear on the forms.
- Language test or education questions. The officer doubts a test result, a transcript, or an educational credential.
- Relationship concerns. In a spousal case, for example, an officer questions whether the relationship is genuine.
- Possible medical or criminal inadmissibility. A medical officer’s opinion or a police record calls for your response.
- Eligibility concerns. An officer doubts that your job duties match the occupation you claimed, or that a job offer is real.
Some of these concerns point to fraud. Others are simple misunderstandings. A company that has moved, a human resources contact who no longer remembers you, or a spelling variation in a name can all produce an alarming-looking letter.
Reading the Letter Properly
Before doing anything else, read it slowly, then go through it again with a highlighter. You are looking for four things.
What is the officer actually concerned about? Copy the exact sentence into your notes. People tend to respond to the problem they fear and not the one described. If the letter says your employer told an officer that you worked part-time, then the issue is hours of work. Explaining at length how good an employee you were will not help.
What legal consequence is mentioned? Many letters refer to section 40 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which deals with misrepresentation. A finding under that section can lead to a five-year bar. Section 16 of the Act also requires applicants to answer truthfully. A letter citing section 40 needs to be taken much more seriously than one simply asking for a clarification about eligibility. Other letters may refer to a different ground, such as medical or criminal inadmissibility.
What is the deadline, and when does it run from? Take note of the date and the way you are supposed to reply. Letters can provide a short time to respond, and the period varies with the case. Put the date on your calendar, with a reminder several days before.
What does the letter tell you to send? Sometimes it asks for specific documents. Sometimes it simply invites “any additional information.” Do both things where you can: give what is asked, and add what will explain the situation.
If You Need More Time
A deadline that falls in the middle of a family emergency or that requires documents from overseas may be too short. You can ask for an extension in writing, before the deadline passes. Give a concrete reason and a specific date. For example, “My former employer in another country has told me that a records letter will take three weeks, and I ask for an extension until a specific date.” Attach proof if you have it.
An extension is not guaranteed, so continue working as if it will be refused. If the date arrives and you have not heard back, file what you have, and say that more is coming. Silence is the worst possible response. If you do not reply, the officer will generally decide on the concern as it stands.
Gathering What You Need
Get Your Own File
It’s hard to respond to a concern about your application if you are not sure what was in it. This is especially true if a consultant or friend filled in the forms. Ask for a complete copy from whoever filed it. Compare it with what you remember. Now and then, people find that their representative made changes they did not know about. You should raise that with your own lawyer, because it affects how the response is framed.
Requesting your records from IRCC under privacy or access to information legislation may help, too, but these requests generally take around a month or longer. If your deadline is shorter than that, mention the outstanding request and any request for more time.
Collect Evidence That Answers the Concern
The best evidence comes from a neutral source, was created at the time, and speaks to the exact issue. Depending on the matter, it might include:
- T4 slips, notices of assessment, pay stubs, and bank records showing deposits from an employer
- Letters from an employer, signed by someone with authority, with contact details an officer can verify
- Original transcripts sent or confirmed by the school
- Travel records, boarding passes, and old passports
- Photos, messages, and proof of shared finances or addresses in a relationship case
- Court records, police documents, or a lawyer’s letter about a charge’s outcome
Hypothetically, if an officer called a Mississauga warehouse and was told nobody by your name had worked there, a letter from the company’s payroll provider and your T4s might go a long way, especially if you explain that you were hired through a staffing agency that ran the payroll. That one explanation may make the discrepancy make sense.
Prepare a Sworn Statement Where It Helps
You may want to include a statutory declaration or an affidavit explaining what happened. This is a statement you swear or affirm before a lawyer, notary, or commissioner for taking affidavits. It should be yours, in your own words, with an interpreter’s certification if you need one. Translations of foreign documents need the translator’s declaration that IRCC requires.
Writing the Response
A strong reply is organized and does not ramble. Most include a cover letter or submissions that do the following:
- Identify the application, your name, and your file number, and quote the concern.
- State directly whether the information in question is accurate.
- Explain how the discrepancy happened, in a clear order, without blaming everyone else.
- Point to the enclosed evidence, each piece labelled and listed.
- If needed, explain why any error was innocent, or why any fact was not material to the decision.
- Ask the officer to continue processing the application.
Your tone matters. Stay respectful, even if the concern feels insulting. Anger, general statements of good character, and appeals to how much you have suffered are not substitutes for evidence. Do not simply repeat what you put in your application, because the officer already has it and has doubts about it.
Honest Mistakes Versus Real Problems
What should you do if the concern is correct? Suppose you did leave out a refusal, or the job letter did overstate your duties. This is the hardest moment in the process, and it’s where good advice is most valuable.
You must not make it worse. Do not get a friend to sign a fresh letter. Do not change a document. Do not call your former employer and ask them to tell a different story to the officer. Do not invent an explanation that you cannot support. Producing false documents in response to a fairness letter can turn a problem that could perhaps be explained into one that cannot.
The law on misrepresentation is broad. It can catch a person who withheld a material fact, even when someone else prepared the form, and even when no intention to deceive existed. The exception for a truly innocent mistake is narrow, and it generally applies only where the person honestly and reasonably believed that they were not withholding anything. Whether an omission was “material” is also a real question: did it affect, or could it have affected, how the Act was applied? These are legal arguments, and a lawyer can help you decide whether and how to make them.
Sometimes the right course is to acknowledge an error and explain it. Sometimes other options, such as withdrawing an application, are worth discussing with a lawyer, although withdrawing does not necessarily make a problem disappear. Don’t make that decision without advice.
After You Send It
Send your response in the way the letter requires, whether through your online account or the web form, and keep proof of when you sent it along with an exact copy of everything. If you sent it by email or web form, save the confirmation message.
Then you wait, sometimes for quite a while. The officer may accept your explanation, ask further questions, call you for an interview, or issue a decision. If you are refused, read the decision and its notes with care. A misrepresentation finding may have to be challenged in the Federal Court, generally within 15 days for a decision made in Canada and 60 days for a decision made outside Canada. A fuller record in your PFL response will generally help, since the Court reviews what was in front of the officer.
Getting Help Early
If you have a letter and you are in Brampton or anywhere nearby, the most useful thing you can do is get it in front of a licensed representative while there is still time to act. You can check any Ontario lawyer’s licence through the Law Society of Ontario directory. Our immigration law page sets out the kinds of matters we handle, including other immigration services that may not fit a standard application. Bring the letter, your full application, and whatever you already have that speaks to the concern. A week of preparation can make for a much stronger response than a late-night email sent on the final day.