Where Was the Negative Decision Made?
One key consideration is where the negative decision was made: was it made by an immigration officer inside of Canada, or by a visa officer outside of Canada. If it was made inside of Canada, then you only have 15 days to seek a review of the decision at the Federal Court of Canada. On the other hand, if it was made outside of Canada, then you have 60 days to file an application to seek permission for judicial review of the decision to refused your temporary application to enter Canada.
Can You Actually Appeal the Negative Decision?
There is technically speaking, no such thing as an appeal against the refusal of a temporary visa application. In fact, refused work permits, study permits and visitor visas can only be reviewed. The review is done by a Federal Court Judge. A review is different from an appeal in that a review only lets the Federal Court Judge review the material/ev idence that was before the officer at the time of the refusal letter being written by the refusing officer. In other words, you cannot add more material or evidence after a negative decision when seeking a review at the Federal Court of Canada.
What Evidence to Provide to Support Your Appeal [sic] of a Temporary Immigration Decision for Canada?
Since you cannot add new evidence when seeking a review of your negative decision, the only evidence you can provide is whatever relevant evidence was already submitted to the officer that made the negative decision.
Should I take My Negative Decision to the Federal Court?
Since you can only present to the Federal Court evidence that was already before the deciding officer, a good rule of thumb is that you should take the negative decision to the Federal Court if the officer ignored evidence, or misinterpreted evidence that was before her when making the negative decision. There is another basis to take the refused temporary visa case to the Federal Court: because the decision was unfairly made.
Was the Decision to Refuse Your Temporary Immigration Decision Visa for Canada (Student or Work or Visit) Unfair?
Keep in mind that everyone who receives a negative decision feels that it was unfair. The feeling of unfairness is a fact of everyday life. The feeling of unfairness arising from a negative decision is not a strong basis for taking a refused temporary immigration decision to the Federal Court. Instead, the fairness must be assessed with regard to the legal definition of what is an unfair decision. The technical phrase is sometimes known as a denial of procedural fairness.
What is a Denial of Procedural Fairness?
There are numerous fact situations that can be encompassed by a denial of procedural fairness; giving examples would not be illustrative. Rather, some examples of the concept of procedural fairness are more apt. For example, if an officer denied your case because he telephoned your employer who said that you did not work there, this may be a component of a denial of procedural fairness, particularly if the officer did not tell you that there was information from your employer. Another example is when the officer denied your temporary immigration document because you were missing a document, yet there was never any instruction to provide that document. Another example is when an officer used a document that you had no idea about (for example a document that said people from your part of your home country produce false documents). There are other examples too lengthy to describe.
