Stays and deferrals of removal · Canada
Stay of removal lawyers in Abbotsford, Surrey and Vancouver
If the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has given you a removal date, time is very short. We act quickly to ask CBSA to defer your removal and, where needed, ask the Federal Court to stop it.
- Requests to CBSA to defer removal
- Urgent stay motions in the Federal Court
- Pre-removal risk assessments and detention reviews
Get urgent help with a removal
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Have a removal date? Call us today. A deferral request or stay motion has to be prepared and filed before the removal date, often within days.
Removal date planner
See the dates that matter for asking the Federal Court to stop your removal.
Enter your removal date
We will show the key dates for a Federal Court stay.
A planning guide only. Business days skip weekends but not statutory holidays. Every case is different: call us the day you receive a removal date.
A removal order must be enforced as soon as possible, but the enforcement officer has a limited discretion to postpone the removal date. Requests that can succeed usually involve:
- Medical issues or other problems that prevent safe travel
- Short-term needs of children, such as finishing a school year or arranging care
- A humanitarian and compassionate application filed on time that has been waiting a long time
- A risk to your safety that has not been assessed
Deferrals are temporary. An application filed just before removal is usually not enough on its own.
If CBSA refuses to defer, or a related decision is under judicial review, we can bring an urgent motion asking the Court to stop the removal. You must show all three of the following:
- There is a serious issue to be decided in your underlying case
- You would suffer irreparable harm if removed
- The balance of convenience favours you
When the underlying case challenges a refusal to defer, the Court expects a strong case, not just a serious one.
- Call right awayTell us your removal date and send any letters from CBSA or IRCC.
- Review your optionsWe check what is pending and which routes are open to you.
- File quicklyWe prepare the deferral request and, if needed, a Federal Court stay motion before your removal date.
- Keep working on your caseIf removal is put on hold, we continue with the application or appeal that lets you stay.
Removal questions
Not on its own. Removal is generally only stayed automatically once an H&C application is approved in principle. Before that, a pending application can support a deferral request, especially if it was filed on time and has been waiting a long time.
Usually yes. Once you are notified that you can apply, removal is stayed until you decide not to apply, the deadline passes, or the application is refused. In most cases you cannot apply within 12 months of a refused refugee claim or PRRA, unless an exemption applies.
In most cases, no. One exception: applying for leave to judicially review a Refugee Appeal Division decision usually stays removal, with exceptions such as serious criminality. Otherwise you may need to ask the Federal Court for a stay.
The Immigration Division must review your detention within 48 hours, again within the following 7 days, and then at least once every 30 days. We represent clients at detention reviews.
Sometimes. Canada can pause removals to a country facing a generalized risk, such as armed conflict. CBSA publishes the current list, and some people, such as those inadmissible for serious criminality or security reasons, are not covered.
Official sources: CBSA: Enforcing removals from CanadaIRPA sections 48 to 50 (removal orders and stays)IRPR sections 230 to 233 (stays of removal)IRPA section 57 (detention reviews)
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Stays and deferrals of removal help in Abbotsford, Surrey and Vancouver
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Facing removal?
Call us now. The sooner we start, the more options you have.