If a foreign national has been deported from Canada, they are deemed inadmissible to Canada. In other words, they cannot return to Canada. The only way to overcome this inadmissibility and be able to return to Canada is to obtain a special permission called “authorization to return to Canada”. It does not matter if the purpose of the return is to visit, study, or work, or if the foreign national wants to apply for permanent residence as a spouse of a Canadian. It also does not matter if the foreign national acquired a new nationality/passport following the deportation. An application to visit, study, work or immigrate must be accompanied by an additional application – an application for authorization to return.
When an authorization to return (ARC) is required:
An ARC will be needed whenever a foreign national was issued an enforceable removal order. For instance, an ARC will be required:
- When a refugee claimant has not left Canada 30 days following refusal of their refugee claim and failure to appeal the refugee claim refusal;
- When a permanent resident who lost the permanent resident status at the Immigration Appeal Division hearing has not left Canada 30 days following negative decision of the Immigration Appeal Division;
- If a foreign national was found inadmissible due to misrepresentation, and 5 years had not passed since they were issued an exclusion order, etc.
Applying for an ARC:
To apply for an ARC, one needs to fill out a few forms, and submit quite a few documents. Some Canadian Visa Offices abroad provide a special document checklist for ARC applications. These checklists can be found on Immigration Canada’s webpage. Some of the questions that the ARC application should answer are:
- Why the foreign national was deported from Canada;
- Why the foreign national did not leave Canada voluntarily;
- Ties to the current home country, such as: family, employment, etc.;
- Purpose of intended travel to Canada;
- Whether Canadian Government covered deportation costs and whether those costs were refunded to the Canadian Government, etc.
The application can be submitted online or by mail, depending on whether the applicant is coming from a visa-exempt country. A filing fee in the amount of $400 must be paid to Immigration Canada online.
Processing times:
There are no official processing times for ARC applications, and it can take a year, two or even longer to receive a final decision. This means that in the case where an ARC application was accompanied by a spousal sponsorship, the applicant will not be able to return to Canada until both applications (ARC + spousal sponsorship) are approved.