A refusal at the Refugee Protection Division is not always the end of a case. Depending on the reasons for refusal and the person's circumstances, three different routes can be available afterward: an appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division, a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment, or a humanitarian and compassionate application.
These three routes are not interchangeable. Each has its own deadlines, its own test, and its own bars that can rule it out for a given person. This guide explains what each one is and where the limits sit.
It is written for someone whose refugee claim has been refused and who is trying to understand what options exist. Which route, if any, fits a particular case depends on facts this guide cannot know, and that is a question worth getting advice about.
How much time do you have to appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division?
The Refugee Appeal Division, or RAD, reviews RPD decisions on the written record, generally without a new hearing. Not every RPD refusal can be appealed to the RAD; some categories of claim are excluded from this route by law.
Where an appeal is available, two separate clocks start running from the day the person receives written reasons for the RPD decision. A notice of appeal has to be filed within 15 days, and the appeal then has to be perfected within 45 days.
Missing either deadline can mean the appeal is not accepted, regardless of how strong the underlying case is. The RAD can confirm the RPD's decision, substitute its own decision, or send the matter back to the RPD for a new hearing.
File the appeal
A notice of appeal has to reach the Refugee Appeal Division within 15 days of the day written reasons for the RPD decision are received.
Perfect the appeal
The appellant's record, which contains the arguments and any new evidence, has to be filed within 45 days of the day written reasons are received. The Regulations set 30 days for this, but the RAD has extended it to 45.
How soon can you apply for a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment after a refusal?
A person cannot apply for a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment, or PRRA, until 12 months have passed since their claim was rejected or abandoned. For a national of a country designated under the Act, that bar is 36 months instead of 12.
A PRRA looks at whether a person would face risk if removed from Canada, based on current conditions rather than the record already reviewed by the RPD. It is a separate process from the refugee claim itself, and it is decided by an IRCC officer rather than the IRB.
Conditions in the person's country can change during the waiting period. That is part of why the assessment looks at current circumstances rather than the record from the original claim.
Humanitarian and compassionate applications
A humanitarian and compassionate application, often called an H&C application, asks the Minister to consider granting permanent residence based on a person's establishment, hardship, and other circumstances, outside the usual immigration rules.
This route has its own limits. The Minister cannot examine an H&C request from someone whose refugee claim is still pending before the RPD. A bar also applies for 12 months after a claim is rejected or abandoned, subject to exceptions set out in the Act. Only one H&C request from the same person can be examined at a time.
How the three routes relate to each other
These routes look at different things. An RAD appeal reviews whether the RPD's decision was correct on the record before it. A PRRA looks forward, at risk on removal. An H&C application looks at a person's circumstances in Canada more broadly, without deciding whether the original refusal was right or wrong.
Because the bars and deadlines differ, and because filing one can affect eligibility for another, working out which routes are actually open in a given case is not always straightforward. This is an area where getting advice about the specific facts of a case matters.
A person facing a refusal is often dealing with more than one clock at the same time: an appeal deadline that is short, and bars on other routes that are much longer. Understanding which clocks apply, and when they start, is often the first practical step after a refusal.
The short version
- An RAD appeal has two separate deadlines: 15 days to file the notice of appeal, and 45 days to perfect it with the appellant's record.
- Not every RPD refusal qualifies for an RAD appeal; some categories are excluded by law.
- A Pre-Removal Risk Assessment carries a 12-month waiting period after a refusal, extended to 36 months for nationals of designated countries.
- An H&C application cannot be examined while a refugee claim is pending, and a further 12-month bar applies after a refusal, subject to exceptions.
- Only one H&C request per person can be examined at a time.
Every figure on this page is cited to the government source it was read from, and was checked on September 19, 2026. Rules change, and a source is the authority where this page and the source disagree. This guide is general information about how the process works, not immigration advice about your own situation, and reading it creates no consultant-client relationship.