Refugee claim ineligible because you claimed more than a year after arriving: your options and the 15-day deadline

By Prabhpreet Kaur Sangha, lawyer at Lawgical Law Corporation · Reviewed November 10, 2026

Published November 10, 2026

Prabhpreet Kaur Sangha is a lawyer at Lawgical Law Corporation, called to the BC bar in 2019, and a member of the Law Society of British Columbia.

Updated November 10, 2026: the one-year rule in section 101 of the Act, IRCC’s ineligible claims information sheet and the open work permit public policy checked that day.

If IRCC or CBSA sent you a letter saying your refugee claim “may be ineligible to be referred to the Refugee Protection Division” because you claimed more than one year after you first came to Canada, you have a short window to answer before the officer decides. The answer should check the entry dates the officer used and raise anything that takes you outside the rule. If the claim is found ineligible, the removal order comes into force 7 days later, a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment becomes your protection, and any judicial review must be filed within 15 days. This guide covers the one-year rule; the 14-day rule for crossings between ports is in our Safe Third Country Agreement guide.

Lawgical Law Corporation, an immigration law firm in Surrey, Abbotsford and Vancouver, BC, answers Bill C-12 ineligibility letters, files Pre-Removal Risk Assessments and challenges ineligibility decisions in the Federal Court for claimants across Canada; this guide is by Prabhpreet Kaur Sangha.

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What does a one-year ineligibility letter under section 101(1)(b.1) say?

In these letters the officer is not judging your fear of return. The only question is arithmetic: did you enter Canada after June 24, 2020, and did you make your claim more than one year after that first entry? If the answer looks like yes, the officer tells you the claim may not go to the Immigration and Refugee Board and gives you a date to respond. The letter does not ask about your risk, and it says changes in your situation after you arrived are not part of this assessment.

You will often see phrases like these in the letter:

• “I have determined that your claim for refugee protection may be ineligible to be referred to the Refugee Protection Division”
• “a refugee claim is ineligible to be referred to the IRB if the claimant entered Canada after June 24, 2020 and made their claim more than one year after that entry”
• “if the claimant entered Canada multiple times after that date, the one-year period is calculated from the day after their first entry”

Other wording that appears in these letters and in the final decision:

• “Changes in personal circumstances or conditions arising after entry to Canada are not assessed as part of this eligibility assessment”
• “Officers do not have discretion to declare eligible a claim that meets these criteria” (translated from a French letter)
• “I have determined that your claim for refugee protection is not eligible to be referred to the RPD”
• “the pending proceedings before the RPD regarding your claim for refugee protection are terminated”

In other words, if the dates fit, the officer says there is no choice: the claim ends before a hearing, and your protection moves to a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment. That is why the dates, and anything that takes you outside the rule, matter so much in your answer.

Why this letter needs a lawyer

One lawyer, one file, every step:

• checking every entry date IRCC relied on, and answering the letter on time;
• a judicial review of the ineligibility decision within 15 days, if the officer got the facts or the law wrong;
• the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment, with the evidence of risk the Board never heard;
• a motion to stay removal in the Federal Court, if CBSA sets a date.

The one-year rule is new law, passed on March 26, 2026, and the questions it raises are legal ones: which entry counts as the “first” entry, what counts as making a claim, and whether the rule applies to a claim made before the law passed. Those questions are being argued in the Federal Court right now.

Immigration lawyers are members of a provincial law society (in our case, the Law Society of British Columbia), and only lawyers can appear for you in the Federal Court. If the officer decides against you, the court step and the PRRA run on separate clocks, and both need to be ready quickly.

Some articles about these letters describe the PRRA as the only option. The PRRA is usually the most important one, but a written answer to the letter and a court challenge to the decision are separate steps, and a consultant cannot file the court challenge.

What are my options after a one-year ineligibility letter?

1. Have a lawyer review the letter and your entry history. Gather every passport stamp, boarding pass, visa and CBSA entry record. Check the date IRCC says you first entered, and whether you left and came back.
2. Answer the letter in writing by the date it gives. Point out any wrong date, any entry before June 24, 2020, and any reason the rule does not apply to your claim. If the time is too short, ask for more time in writing before it runs out.
3. Judicial review of the ineligibility decision. If the officer decides against you, you have 15 days from notice of the decision to apply to the Federal Court (section 72 of the Act). A judge can send the eligibility question back to a different officer.
4. Pre-Removal Risk Assessment. After the decision, CBSA tells you when you can apply. A PRRA filed on time stops removal until IRCC decides. Read our PRRA guide.
5. Open work permit. A temporary public policy lets most claimants found ineligible under the one-year rule apply for an open work permit while they wait. Our refugee claimant work permit guide explains who qualifies.

The 7-day clock on the removal order does not wait for the other options.

Deadlines at a glance

If the 15th day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, the court deadline moves to the next business day.

Could the decision be challenged in court?

The strongest argument is usually about the facts the rule depends on. The rule turns on two dates, your first entry after June 24, 2020 and the day you made your claim, and an officer who gets either one wrong has made the kind of error a judge will correct. I see the dates go wrong most often with people who entered more than once, people whose first entry was on a visa that was later changed, and people who tried to make a claim earlier but were turned away or told to come back.

The second question is when a claim is “made”. If you told an officer you wanted to claim, filled in part of the online portal, or booked an appointment before the one-year mark, that does not change the date that counts. Officers use the date the claim was submitted through the online portal, so an earlier conversation or an unfinished portal entry will not stop the clock. What you can check is whether the submission date IRCC recorded is right.

The third question is the rule itself. Groups of lawyers have filed constitutional challenges to the new bars, and the Federal Court is managing about 36 of them together. The law stays in force while that litigation runs, so it does not stop a removal by itself, but it can matter to how your own court file is handled.

Under Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65, a decision must be justified by the facts and the law in front of the officer. A decision that relies on a wrong entry date, or that ignores an answer you gave to the letter, is not.

Whether any of this fits your case depends on your entry history and what you sent in response. If you were never sent a letter before the decision, that is a separate fairness question.

What does the one-year rule require?

Paragraph 101(1)(b.1) of the Act, added by Bill C-12 (royal assent March 26, 2026), makes a claim ineligible if it was made more than one year after the claimant’s first entry into Canada after June 24, 2020. It applies to claims made on or after June 3, 2025, so claims already in the system on the day the law passed were caught too.

The only exception is for unaccompanied minors. An ineligible claim is not heard by the Board, but the claimant can still ask for a PRRA, which looks at the same kind of risk.

What happens after the decision: the timeline

Worked example: counting the year

Example. A student first entered Canada on August 20, 2022, went home for a summer, came back on May 1, 2024, and made a refugee claim on September 15, 2025. The year runs from the day after the first entry after June 24, 2020: August 21, 2022. One year later is August 21, 2023. The claim was made after that date, and it was made after June 3, 2025, so the rule applies. The May 2024 re-entry does not restart the clock.

Officers count from your initial entry, not your most recent one. That is the part most people are not aware of: someone who first came as a visitor years ago, left, and came back recently may already be past the one-year mark on the day they arrive.

What to send with your answer

• Entry history: every passport page with stamps, old passports, visas, boarding passes, and the CBSA travel history if you have it.
• Proof of earlier attempts to claim: emails, portal screenshots, appointment notices, or a statement about when you first told an officer you were afraid to go back.
• Identity and age: if you were a minor when you arrived or claimed, proof of your date of birth.
• Your risk evidence: start gathering it now. It is not assessed at this stage, but it is the heart of the PRRA that follows.

Mistakes I have seen

• I have seen people answer the letter by explaining their fear of return in detail and say nothing about the dates. The officer cannot weigh risk at this stage, so that answer does not help.
• I have seen people miss the date in the letter because they waited for the decision before getting advice.
• I have seen people leave out an entry or an exit because they thought it did not matter. An unexplained gap in the travel history can create a credibility problem in the PRRA later.
• I have seen people count the year from their most recent arrival. Officers count from the initial entry.
• I have seen people stop preparing their risk evidence after the claim was found ineligible. The PRRA usually comes quickly once CBSA gives notice.

When this route does not work

• If you came from the US at a land port and no Safe Third Country Agreement exception applies, a different bar applies and there is no PRRA before return to the US (IRPA s.112(2)(b)). See our Safe Third Country Agreement guide.
• If you had an earlier refugee claim rejected, withdrawn or abandoned, other paragraphs of section 101 may apply as well.
• If you are found inadmissible for serious criminality or security, the PRRA is restricted.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still get a hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board?

Not if the claim is found ineligible. The claim ends before a hearing. Your risk is assessed instead in a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment by an IRCC officer.

Does the one-year rule apply if I made my claim before Bill C-12 passed?

Yes, if you made the claim on or after June 3, 2025. The law passed on March 26, 2026 but reaches back to claims made from that date.

Do I have to leave Canada right away?

Not right away. The removal order comes into force 7 days after the decision, and CBSA then tells you when you can apply for a PRRA. A PRRA filed on time stops removal until IRCC decides it.

Can I work while I wait?

Most people found ineligible under the one-year rule can apply for an open work permit under a temporary public policy. There is a fee, and Safe Third Country Agreement cases are not covered.

What if the dates in the letter are wrong?

Say so in writing before the deadline, with proof. A wrong date is one of the clearest grounds to challenge the decision later.

Can my family members’ claims be treated differently?

Yes. Each person’s entry date is counted separately, so one family member can be found ineligible while the rest of the family’s claims go ahead to the Board.

Related guides: the 60-day deadline to complete a refugee claim.

What should I do right now?

Find the date in the letter and gather every document that shows when you entered and left Canada. Write down when you first tried to make a claim. If a decision has already been made, the 7-day and 15-day clocks are already running; fifteen days passes fast.

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Sources (official)

• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, s. 101 (current to October 19, 2026; last amended March 26, 2026)
• IRPA, s. 112 and s. 72
• Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, s. 162 and s. 232
• IRCC, Information for asylum claimants (modified November 3, 2026) and the ineligible asylum claims information sheet
• IRCC, Temporary public policy: open work permits for claimants whose claims are ineligible (modified March 27, 2026)
• Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65

This article is general information, not legal advice. Every case depends on its own facts.