When Canada Border Services Agency issues a removal date, foreign nationals face the imminent reality of deportation. This critical moment requires understanding your legal rights and available remedies. Two primary mechanisms exist to delay or prevent removal: deferral requests to CBSA and stay applications to Federal Court. Both serve distinct purposes and follow different procedures, yet both aim to prevent hasty deportation that could cause irreparable consequences.
The immigration lawyers at Lewis & Associates LLP regularly handle urgent removal cases, providing strategic counsel when time is most limited. Our approach focuses on immediate assessment of your circumstances, rapid evidence gathering, and efficient preparation of compelling legal arguments. This guide explains how deferral and stay applications work and when each remedy is appropriate.
Canada’s removal system operates through CBSA enforcement of orders issued by immigration authorities. Understanding this system helps identify when intervention is possible and what arguments may succeed.
Once a removal order becomes enforceable and CBSA schedules your departure, you receive a Direction to Report. This document specifies when and where you must report for removal from Canada. The timeline between notification and actual removal varies but can be extremely short.
Three types of orders exist, each carrying different consequences for future return to Canada. Departure orders allow 30 days for voluntary departure. Exclusion orders bar return for one to five years. Deportation orders permanently bar return absent ministerial consent.
Before seeking court intervention, requesting administrative deferral from CBSA represents the first option. Deferral asks the enforcement officer to postpone your removal to a later date for compelling reasons.
Compelling reasons include: urgent medical treatment unavailable abroad, children’s critical educational milestones, pending immigration applications with reasonable prospects, new evidence that may change your immigration status, and family emergencies requiring brief delay.
The Process: Submit deferral requests in writing to the enforcement officer identified in your Direction to Report. Include detailed explanations and supporting documentation. Officers have discretion but must consider humanitarian factors.
When CBSA denies deferral or when deferral alone is insufficient, Federal Court can order a stay preventing removal. This requires filing for judicial review of an immigration decision and simultaneously moving for a stay.
The stay test requires proving: (1) Serious Question – Your judicial review raises important legal issues warranting court consideration. (2) Irreparable Harm – Removal would cause injury that money cannot remedy and that cannot be undone if you later succeed. (3) Balance of Convenience – Granting the stay causes less overall harm than refusing it.
Serious questions often involve procedural fairness violations, errors in law, or unreasonable decision-making by immigration authorities.
When facing removal, every hour matters. At About Lewis & Associates LLP, we provide emergency consultation and representation. Our team understands the pressure these situations create and responds accordingly.
Contact us immediately at (514) 360-5754 or info@lewislegal.ca. Our Montreal office at 1117 Rue Sainte-Catherine Suite 507, Montreal, QC H3B 1H9 is ready to assist. We offer reasonable fees—typically $4,500 to $7,000—not the $8,000 to $12,000 some firms charge.