Immigration Appeal Division (IAD): Appeal, New Application or H&C? Which Route Fits Your Refusal

Part of: Refusals & Complex Cases

If your immigration application was refused, the first question is whether you can appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) at all. The IAD, part of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), hears appeals on sponsorships, removal orders and residency obligations, but many refusals have no appeal right. Where an appeal exists, the IAD must receive your notice within 30 or 60 days. Where it does not, the choice is between the Federal Court, a new application or a humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) request.

Person reading an immigration refusal letter at home — Start with the refusal letter and the officer’s notes.

Which route fits your refusal: IAD appeal, new application or H&C?

Check first whether the law gives you a right of appeal: only four kinds of decisions can go to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD), and some common refusals, such as an inland spousal sponsorship refusal or a refused visitor, study or work permit visa, cannot. If you have an appeal right, the IAD comes first, because an application for judicial review cannot be made until any right of appeal is exhausted.

Find your situation:

A family member you sponsored from outside Canada was refused a permanent resident visa. The sponsor can appeal to the IAD within 30 days, unless an IRPA s. 64 bar applies. The deadline and filing sections below explain the steps.
Your spouse or partner was refused under the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class (inland). IRCC says you can’t appeal its decision in that class. The options are set out under “What are your options if there is no appeal right?” below; see also our spousal sponsorship page.
An officer outside Canada decided you did not meet your PR residency obligation. You can appeal to the IAD within 60 days. Before any refusal, IRPA also lets the officer accept H&C reasons for a residency shortfall; see our PRTD guide.
You were in Canada and received a removal order for the residency obligation. The IRB says you make a removal order appeal, within 30 days.
Your visitor visa, study permit or work permit was refused. The IRB says you cannot appeal the refusal of a temporary resident visa to the IAD. See visitor visa refusal: reapply, reconsideration or judicial review.

Whatever the route, start with the refusal letter and the officer’s notes, often called GCMS notes; see how to get IRCC officer’s decision notes.

What our RCICs see when reviewing a refusal (Usman Khalil, RCIC; experience, not an IRB rule)

“A lot of people think that once their application is refused, they can simply appeal and get another chance. I always say, let’s first understand why it was refused and whether you actually have a right to appeal. Just disagreeing with the officer isn’t enough.”

What is the Immigration Appeal Division?

The Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) is one of the four divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). It hears appeals on immigration matters, including sponsorship refusals, removal orders and residency obligation decisions.

The other three divisions are the Refugee Protection Division, the Refugee Appeal Division and the Immigration Division. The IAD has the powers of a superior court of record for matters within its jurisdiction, such as swearing in and examining witnesses. After considering an appeal, it must allow it, stay a removal order, or dismiss it.

An appeal at the IAD is not the same as asking Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to look at your file again. You are the appellant, and the Minister is the other party. In sponsorship and residency appeals, the Minister is represented by an officer from the Canada Border Services Agency, called the Minister’s counsel.

Which decisions can you appeal to the IAD?

Under section 63 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), four kinds of decisions can go to the IAD: a refused family class sponsorship, a removal order, a residency obligation decision made outside Canada, and a Minister’s appeal of an Immigration Division decision. A sponsor, permanent resident or foreign national has no IAD appeal if the person was found inadmissible for security, human or international rights violations, sanctions, serious criminality or organized criminality, and a sponsorship refused for misrepresentation can be appealed only if the sponsored person is the sponsor’s spouse, common-law partner or child.

Who may appeal depends on the decision:

Sponsorship refusal. A sponsor who filed a family class sponsorship can appeal a decision not to issue the permanent resident visa. Only the sponsor can file the appeal; sponsored family members cannot.
Inland spousal refusal. There is no appeal: IRCC says you can’t appeal its decision if you’re sponsoring under the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class.
Removal order. A permanent resident, a protected person, or a foreign national who holds a permanent resident visa can appeal a removal order made after an officer’s examination or an admissibility hearing.
Residency obligation. A permanent resident can appeal a residency obligation decision made outside Canada, for example after a travel document application to a visa office was refused.
Minister’s appeal. The Minister can appeal an Immigration Division decision made at an admissibility hearing, and your role is then to respond.

For the “serious criminality” bar, IRPA counts a crime punished in Canada by at least six months of imprisonment, among other cases. The IRB’s plain-language list for sponsorship appeals also includes a crime outside Canada that would be punishable in Canada by a maximum term of 10 years or more.

Decision	Who can appeal	Deadline (the IAD must receive the notice)	Can H&C be argued?	How it is filed
Family class sponsorship refused (permanent resident visa)	The sponsor only (IRPA s. 63(1); IRB form page)	30 days after you receive the decision and written reasons, if any (IAD Rules, rule 16(a))	Yes, but only once the IAD decides the person is a family class member and the sponsor is a sponsor (IRPA s. 65)	Notice of appeal – sponsorship form, sent to the IAD (rule 13; IRB forms)
Residency obligation decision made outside Canada	The permanent resident (IRPA s. 63(4))	60 days after you receive the decision and written reasons, if any (rule 16(c))	Yes (IRPA s. 67(1)(c); IRB residency guide)	Notice of appeal – residency obligation form, sent to the IAD (IRB, step 1)
Removal order (officer’s examination or admissibility hearing)	Permanent resident, protected person, or foreign national with a permanent resident visa (IRPA s. 63(2) and (3))	30 days after you receive the removal order (rule 16(b))	Yes, and the IAD can also stay the order (IRPA s. 67(1)(c) and s. 68)	Notice of appeal – removal order form sent to the IAD, or handed to the Immigration Division member at the end of the admissibility hearing (rule 14)
Minister’s appeal of an Immigration Division decision	The Minister (IRPA s. 63(5))	30 days after the Minister receives the Immigration Division’s decision (rule 16(d))	Not as the Minister’s ground; for a permanent resident or protected person responding, the IAD may weigh H&C (IRPA s. 69(2))	The Minister sends a notice of appeal to you, the Immigration Division and the IAD (rule 15)

No sponsor, permanent resident or foreign national can make these appeals where IRPA s. 64(1) applies (security, human or international rights violations, sanctions, serious criminality or organized criminality).

What is the deadline to appeal to the IAD?

The IAD must receive your notice of appeal within 30 days for a sponsorship refusal or a removal order, and within 60 days for a residency obligation decision made outside Canada. The days count from when you receive the decision (and, for sponsorship and residency appeals, the written reasons, if any), and the form must arrive by then, not just be sent.

The IRB repeats this on each appeal page: for a sponsorship appeal, the IAD must receive your notice of appeal form and all required documents within 30 days, and for a residency obligation appeal, within 60 days.

Two smaller rules help at the edges. If a time limit for providing a document falls on a day that is not a working day, it moves to the next working day. The IAD Rules also let the Division extend a time limit, even after it has passed, but that is the Division’s choice, not your right, so treat the 30 or 60 days as fixed.

What our RCICs see (Usman Khalil, RCIC; general experience with refusals, not IAD representation)

“People don’t realize how quickly the appeal deadline can pass. They sometimes spend weeks deciding what to do. I always tell them to deal with the deadline first.”

How do you file an appeal with the IAD?

You send the IAD the notice of appeal form for your type of appeal (sponsorship, residency obligation or removal order) with a copy of the decision you are appealing. For a sponsorship appeal, the IRB also asks for the IRCC refusal letter and the officer’s decision notes, if you have received them.

What goes with the form:

Sponsorship appeal: the completed notice of appeal – sponsorship form, the refusal letter sent to the family member you sponsored, and the officer’s decision notes if you have them.
Residency obligation appeal: the completed notice of appeal – residency obligation form and a copy of the decision letter from the overseas visa office.
Removal order appeal: the completed notice of appeal – removal order form and a copy of the removal order.

You may add other documents that could help resolve the appeal. The IRB’s example: if you were refused for a missing document and you have it now, you can send it with the notice of appeal. In the notice, you also choose English or French as the language of the appeal.

Keep your contact details up to date with the IAD. If you or your counsel do not respond to the IAD, it can dismiss your appeal or declare it abandoned, and the original decision then stands.

What happens after you file: ADR or a full hearing?

The Minister sends the appeal record (the file behind the decision) to you and the IAD, within 60 days after the IAD asks for it in sponsorship and residency appeals, and you then have 60 days to send your own documents. The IAD may then try informal resolution, including an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) conference, and an appeal that is not resolved goes to a hearing.

For removal order appeals and Minister’s appeals, the appeal record is due within 30 days. Read the appeal record carefully: it is part of the evidence and contains the reasons for the refusal. If you do not want to send documents, you must tell the IAD in writing; if you do neither, the IAD can dismiss your appeal or declare it abandoned.

How ADR works. According to the IRB’s ADR page:

An ADR conference is a meeting between you (and your counsel), the Minister’s counsel and an Early Resolution Officer (ERO), who is neutral.
It takes about one hour; formal hearings usually take three hours or more.
The IAD picks appeals for ADR when it thinks the Minister’s counsel might agree to allow the appeal, or that you might withdraw once you understand why it would probably fail.
If you have new and important information, you can ask in writing for ADR; you can also ask in writing to opt out.
If the Minister’s counsel recommends allowing the appeal, the ERO prepares an ADR agreement, an IAD member reviews and approves it, and you receive a written decision allowing your appeal.
If not, you decide whether to withdraw or go to a hearing.

What is said at ADR stays confidential, with limited exceptions, but documents you provide for ADR are not confidential and stay in the appeal file. In sponsorship and residency obligation appeals, if you represent yourself or have an unpaid counsel, the IRB says you will be invited to a virtual preparation meeting with an ERO, who cannot give legal advice.

What happens at an IAD hearing?

Hearings are virtual by default, and you, as the appellant, must prove that the decision should be changed. You usually testify first, the Minister’s counsel then cross-examines you, and the IAD member decides either at the end of the hearing or later in writing.

Key points from the IAD Rules and the IRB’s hearing pages:

The hearing must be at least 30 days after you receive the notice to appear, unless both parties agree to an earlier date or the hearing was adjourned or postponed.
Anyone who testifies, including you, must be on a witness list sent to the IAD and the Minister’s counsel no later than 30 days before the hearing.
For an expert witness, such as a doctor, you must provide their qualifications and a brief summary of their testimony, signed by the expert, no later than 30 days before the hearing.
A request to postpone must reach the IAD at least 3 working days before the hearing, and is granted only in exceptional circumstances.
Members of the public can attend most hearings, unless a confidentiality order is obtained in exceptional circumstances.

If the decision is reserved, the IRB says writing it usually takes no more than 60 days. If a sponsorship appeal is allowed, IRCC resumes processing the permanent resident visa application.

What can the IAD consider when deciding an appeal?

The IAD can allow an appeal if the decision was wrong in law or fact, if a principle of natural justice was not observed, or, except in a Minister’s appeal, if humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) considerations, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected, warrant special relief. In a family class sponsorship appeal, the IAD can consider H&C only after deciding that the person is a member of the family class and that the sponsor is a sponsor within the meaning of the regulations.

Three details matter in practice:

Timing. IRPA says the IAD looks at these grounds “at the time that the appeal is disposed of”, not only as things stood when the officer decided.
Evidence. The IAD is not bound by any legal or technical rules of evidence and may rely on evidence it considers credible or trustworthy.
Removal orders. Instead of allowing or dismissing, the IAD can stay a removal order on H&C grounds with conditions. The IRB says a stay is mostly used in criminality cases.

Residency obligation appeals. The IRB’s residency appeal guide gives three ways to win: prove you were in Canada for the required time, prove an allowable reason for being outside Canada, or show H&C reasons. Allowable reasons include being sent by a Canadian employer to work full-time outside Canada, with the expectation of returning to that job in Canada (see working for a Canadian company outside Canada and PR residency). H&C factors the IRB lists include:

how long you lived in Canada, and how established you are here;
why you left Canada, why you stayed away so long, and whether you tried to return as soon as you could;
hardship to you, and the impact on family members in Canada;
the best interests of any child directly affected.

Sponsorship appeals. For spouse and partner cases, the IRB publishes a guide on appealing a decision about sponsoring a spouse or partner (bad faith relationship). For the sponsorship rules themselves, see our spousal sponsorship page.

Can you stay in Canada during a removal order or residency appeal?

If you appeal a removal order, the order does not come into force until a final determination confirms it. If you appeal a residency obligation decision made outside Canada, you lose permanent resident status only on the final determination of that decision, and the law provides a travel document to return during the appeal if you were physically present in Canada at least once in the 365 days before the examination.

What are your options if there is no appeal right?

If your refusal has no IAD appeal, you can apply to the Federal Court for leave for judicial review, within 15 days for a matter arising in Canada or 60 days for one arising outside Canada. Depending on why you were refused, a new application or a request for humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) consideration may also be worth discussing.

How these routes differ:

Judicial review. It needs the Court’s leave (permission) first. The same route exists after an IAD decision: the IRB says that application should be made within 15 days of being notified of the IAD’s decision, and the Court will either dismiss it or send the case back to the IAD.
H&C request. IRPA lets the Minister grant permanent resident status, or an exemption from requirements, to a foreign national applying for permanent residence when H&C considerations, including the best interests of a child directly affected, justify it. This is a separate request to IRCC, not an IAD appeal; see our guide to humanitarian and compassionate applications.

What our RCICs see when reviewing a refusal (Usman Khalil, RCIC; experience from refusal reviews and residency applications, not IAD representation)

“For me, it’s all about the evidence. You need to address the actual reasons for refusal, not just repeat what was already submitted. In residency cases, I also look closely at why the person stayed outside Canada and whether there are genuine humanitarian circumstances we can support with documents.”

New application. Whether applying again makes sense depends on the refusal reasons, which is why the refusal letter and the officer’s notes come first.

Who can represent you at the IAD?

You can represent yourself, use an unpaid counsel such as a friend or relative, or pay for counsel who is a member in good standing of a provincial law society, the Chambre des notaires du Québec or the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). Since July 1, 2023, a CICC immigration consultant needs a specific type of licence to represent clients before the IRB, even without charging a fee, and the CICC Public Register shows that licence as Class L3, RCIC-IRB.

What else to know:

IRPA gives a person who is the subject of proceedings before the IRB the right to be represented at their own expense by legal or other counsel.
The CICC says Class L2 RCICs cannot practise before the IRB unless they also are a paralegal licensed by the Law Society of Ontario. The class appears in the “Type” column of the CICC Public Register.
The IRB says the authorized-counsel rule applies even if you are appealing from outside Canada.
An unpaid counsel cannot be paid or receive any compensation, such as a gift, and cannot be a witness at the hearing. You tell the IAD about them with a Notice of Representation without a Fee or Other Consideration.
For paid counsel, you give the IAD their professional organization and membership number using the Counsel Contact Information form.

MAK and the IAD. MAK’s two RCICs, Usman Khalil (R709592) and Omer Khalil (R710149), are listed on the CICC Public Register as RCIC – L2 and entitled to practise (checked 13 November 2026). An L2 licence does not allow them to represent you before the IRB, or to help prepare or present your appeal, at any stage: filing the notice of appeal, sending documents, an ADR conference or a hearing. For the appeal itself, you need a lawyer or other member of a provincial law society (such as a paralegal licensed by the Law Society of Ontario), a Quebec notary or an RCIC-IRB (Class L3), or you can represent yourself.

Who should you contact about an IAD appeal?

Act as soon as you receive the refusal or removal order, because the 30- or 60-day deadline runs from the day you receive the decision. If you have decided to appeal, go straight to a lawyer or other member of a provincial law society (such as a paralegal licensed by the Law Society of Ontario), a Quebec notary or an RCIC-IRB in good standing, or represent yourself; MAK cannot act for you at the IAD.

Not sure which route fits your refusal?

If you are not yet sure an appeal is your route, one of MAK’s RCICs can review your IRCC refusal letter and the officer’s notes and explain your options outside the IAD, such as a new application, a permanent resident travel document request or a humanitarian and compassionate application. If an appeal is the right route, we will tell you so promptly and refer you to authorized counsel. MAK works from offices in Mississauga and Scarborough and online across Canada. Book a consultation or call +1 647 832 8531 or +1 905 518 4539. No consultant can guarantee an outcome.

Book a refusal review Refusals & Complex Cases

More refusal guides

Refusals & Complex Cases: refusal reviews, procedural fairness letters, misrepresentation and other complex cases
IRCC officer’s decision notes (GCMS): how to get the notes behind a refusal
Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) (this guide): appeal rights, deadlines, ADR, hearings and the routes when there is no appeal

Checked against IRB, IRCC and Justice Laws sources by MAK on 13 November 2026. Sources: the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada’s Immigration Appeal Division pages, appeal guides and forms; the Immigration Appeal Division Rules (SOR/2022-277) and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act on Justice Laws; IRCC’s spousal sponsorship tracking page; and the CICC Public Register. General information, not advice for your case. Rules and forms change, so check the IRB’s pages before you file. MAK’s RCICs hold Class L2 licences and do not represent clients before the IAD.