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Asylum in Canada


IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PERSONS WHO WISH TO CLAIM REFUGEE STATUS AT THE U.S./ CANADA BORDER

In order for you to be able to enter Canada as a refugee applicant, you MUST make sure that you will be eligible to apply for refugee status under the “Safe Third Country Agreement”, otherwise you will be returned to the U.S. This is very dangerous if you are without legal status in the U.S. as you will most likely be detained upon return to the US.

The following overview of the Agreement (with green text) was prepared by the Canadian Council of Refugees.

SAFE THIRD COUNTRY AGREEMENT: IMPACT ON REFUGEE CLAIMANTS & FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

On 29 December 2004, the US-Canada safe third country agreement came into effect. This means that the rules changed for people making a refugee claim at the US-Canadian land border. For many refugee claimants, the safe third country rule means that if they apply at a land border they will be rejected by Canada without ever being able to present their refugee claim. However, there are exceptions to this rule. This document is intended to give basic information to people considering making a refugee claim in Canada or to their advisors.

Is the US-Canada border now closed to refugee claimants?

No, the border is not closed to all refugee claimants. In order, to make a refugee claim, you will have to show that you are a habitual resident of the U.S. Otherwise, if you meet one of the exceptions to the safe third country rule, you will be able to present your refugee claim in Canada.

What are the exceptions to the safe third country rule?

You can still make a refugee claim in Canada at a land border point:

1. If you have in Canada, a:
* spouse or common-law partner*
* legal guardian
* child
* father or mother
* brother or sister
* grandfather or grandmother
* grandchild
* uncle or aunt
* nephew or niece

AND that family member is a:
* Canadian citizen
* permanent resident
* protected person (i.e. determined to be a refugee or a person in need of protection)
* Accepted in principle on humanitarian and compassionate grounds (removal order stayed under Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations 233)
* 18 years of age or over and is a refugee claimant (and the claim has not been rejected, withdrawn, found abandoned or ineligible)
* 18 years of age or over and is in Canada on a work permit or study permit (but check the exceptions)
* a common law partner is a person (of the same or opposite sex) with whom you are cohabiting in a conjugal relationship and have cohabited for at least a year.
2. If you are under 18 years, you are not accompanied by your father, mother or legal guardian, you are unmarried and neither your mother, father nor legal guardian is in Canada or the US.
3. If you are a national of a country to which Canada has temporarily suspended removals (currently, Afghanistan, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe). This exception does not apply if you are inadmissible to Canada on criminality grounds. (This exemption was removed July 23, 2009)
4. If you have been charged with or convicted of an offense punishable with the death penalty in the country where the charge or conviction was made. (However, you may be ineligible to make a claim on grounds of criminality).
5. If you have a valid visa to enter Canada, other than a transit visa.
6. If you come from a country for whose nationals Canada does not require a visa but the US does (currently Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Botswana, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Republic of (South) Korea, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Solomon Islands, Swaziland, Western Samoa).

How can I prove that I meet one of the exceptions?

If you arrive at a border point and make a refugee claim, an immigration officer will interview you to see if you meet any of the exceptions. The officer will take into account what you say and will look at any documents you provide. The officer may also do some research (for example, if you say you have a family member in Canada, the officer will look for that person in the immigration databases and may try to speak to them on the telephone). You should try to bring with you documents that show you meet an exception. If you have a family member in Canada, you should know how to contact that person on the day you make your claim in Canada.

What will happen if an immigration officer decides I meet an exception but later it turns out not to be true?

Deliberately giving false information to an immigration officer can have very serious consequences. If you falsely claim to meet one of the exceptions and the Canadian government later finds out that you did not answer the questions truthfully, the Canadian government can take away your right to make a refugee claim (Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (104(1)(c)).

Does the safe third country rule apply to all refugee claimants arriving from the US?

No, the rule applies only if you make a refugee claim at a land port of entry. The rule does not apply if you arrive by air or by water: claims made at an airport, port or ferry landing are not affected by the safe third country rule, even though you arrived from the US. The rule does not apply to claims made inside Canada: if you enter Canada from the US and later make a refugee claim at an immigration office within Canada, you are not affected by the safe third country rule.

If I have made an asylum application in the US, does this affect my right to make a claim in Canada?

No. If you meet one of the exceptions to the safe third country rule, you can make a claim in Canada whether or not you have applied for asylum in the US.

THE SAFE THIRD COUNTRY AGREEMENT DOES NOT APPLY TO STATELESS PERSONS

The UNHCR defines a “stateless person” as a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law. The applicant has to demonstrate that there is no government in the world that can offer protection. It is the action of their government that makes a person stateless, not just a declaration of statelessness by the person. Please contact VIAA for further information or to discuss your case if you believe you fall into this category.
OTHER ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Besides meeting one of the exceptions to the “Safe Third Country”, there are five other eligibility requirements:

* You must not have a serious criminal history, (if you have any criminal convictions, please consult with a Canadian immigration lawyer).
* You must not have previously applied for refugee status in Canada.
* You must not have been firmly resettled in another country.
* You must not have persecuted others.
* You must not be a terrorist.

Please note: There is no “special program” for Haitians or persons of any other nationality to immigrate to Canada. If anyone tries to charge you money to assist you with admission to such a program, they are misleading you.
Some organizations and individuals are charging people to fill out forms to present at the Canadian border. This is useless and will not help you in any way at the border.

For more information on the Safe Third Country Agreement, see http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/agency-agence/stca-etps-eng.html

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TRAVEL TO THE QUEBEC, CANADA BORDER

It can be very dangerous for a refugee applicant who is out of status in the U.S. to make their way via public transportation, including taxis, to the border. If apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol, it is likely that you will be detained and put into removal proceedings. Please note that you can still travel in safety if your case is currently pending in the US or you are within the deadline given for voluntary departure.

If you have a valid driver’s license, you can either drive a rental car that has a one-way drop off contract, or take your own vehicle if the title is in your own name and no money is owed on it to the bank.

The Lacolle, Quebec port of entry is the port best staffed to handle refugee claimants. This is at the northern end of Rte. 87 in eastern NY.

Plattsburgh, NY, the nearest big town, is around 25 miles south of the border. If you are in legal status in the US, you could safely arrive there by bus, train, or plane. (For your information, the telephone number for the bus, Greyhound, is 1-800-231-2222, www.greyhound.com, and for the trains, Amtrak, is 1-800-872-7245 or www.amtrak.com.)

Then, a taxi can take you most of the rest of the way to the border. (One suggestion, City Taxi, 518-561-7777, is based in Plattsburgh. They charge roughly $60.00 from the Plattsburgh bus station to the border ($10 extra per passenger).

The taxi driver will drop you at the last exit before entering Canada. Be prepared to walk 1/2 of a mile. For this reason, only take as much luggage as you can carry or roll.

There are no prior appointments given at this port of entry. However, it is best to arrive there very early in the morning so that you have a better chance of going through the process on the same day.

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BORDER PROCESSING

At the border, you will be asked to fill out two forms. The two hardest questions that will be asked are as follows as they are written on the form:
Occupations

List your occupations during the past ten years, starting with the most recent information, include jobs held, periods of unemployment, periods of study and any other use of time, such as time spent traveling in search of a country of refuge, stays in hospital institutions or penitentiaries, or periods spent at home as a homemaker. Under “Occupation”, print your occupation or job title if you were working. If you were not working, enter what you were doing (for example, unemployed, studying, traveling, etc.) Do not exclude any period of time in the past ten years. The form will be sent back to you if you miss one month. For example, if today’s date is July 12, 2002, you must end your list at July 1992 and have every month in between the two dates included in the time periods you list.

Dates, (month and year) From___To___, Occupation___ ,City or town (or nearest community) ___, Country___, Name of company/ employer, if applicable (write name in full)___.
Do not use abbreviations.
Addresses

Give complete addresses for the places where you lived for the past ten years including the street, town or city, province or region, and country. If there was no street number, explain exactly the location of the house or building. You must account for every month for the past ten years. Use the instructions for the previous question to calculate ten years.

Dates, (month and year) From___To___, Street and number___, City or town (or nearest community)___, Province/State/District___, Country___.

Do not use PO box addresses.

You can say that you received the questions from Vermont Immigration and Asylum Advocates website. Always keep a copy of the answers as you will be asked to submit some of the same information later.

Anyone over the age of 18 will have an interview with an asylum officer.

Once the border officials have interviewed you and have determined your eligibility to pursue a refugee claim in Canada, you will be allowed to enter Canada and your case will be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board, IRB, in Montreal.

For more information on the process at the border, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/laws-policy/refugee-claims.asp

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RESOURCES IN MONTREAL


SHELTER

If you are not able to stay with friends or relatives for quite a while in Canada, then you will be referred to a shelter.
The following is the largest refugee shelter in Montreal. It is dedicated to refugee claimants; there are private rooms, it’s clean and there are a lot of services including childcare provided on the premises.

YMCA de Montreal – Le Jardin Couvert
4039 Rue Tupper
Westmount (Quebec) H3Z 1T5
Ph. 514-932-5353
(near the Atwater metro station)
MEDICAL EXAM

You will have five working days in which to get a medical exam and you will receive a list of five authorized clinics where you can get one in Montreal. The government is able to pay for the exam if one is indigent.
BENEFITS

You are eligible to receive benefits from the Quebec provisional government. Roughly ten days after one presents oneself to the Quebec social services office, one can begin to receive benefits.
WORK AUTHORIZATION

You can receive work authorization roughly two months after your asylum application is submitted. One also has to have passed their medical exam in order to be found eligible to work.

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LEGAL PROCESS ONCE YOU HAVE ENTERED CANADA

When you proceed from the border, you will be given a packet which will include a personal Information Form which is the Canadian version of the asylum application (See the IRB website below for a copy). You will have exactly 28 days to submit this to the IRB and we strongly advise that you find an immigration attorney posthaste so that together you can start to work on this.

In eight working days after one’s entry, one has an interview at the IRB building to rather informally review one’s claim. The following is from a Citizenship and Immigration Canada publication: At this interview, “Some refugee claimants are selected by the IRB for the “expedited process”. If so, you will attend a meeting with a refugee claim officer who questions you about your claim. If the RCO is satisfied that your claim should be accepted, he or she recommends this. If the IRB member who reviews the file agrees with this recommendation, the claimant is accepted without a full hearing.” If your case follows the normal track, then your hearing will be scheduled before the IRB in 4-12 months.

In Canada, it is possible to be represented by either a private attorney, a consultant, or a government funded attorney or consultant. In the latter instance, the Quebec provincial government only pays the representative a fee of $500 and for this sum it is very difficult to construct a strong case. If one is fortunate, one can be represented by one of the three lawyers who work for Legal Aid in Montreal. It is also possible to receive representation from one of the law school clinics. In order to check on the reputation and experience of the consultant or lawyer that you find, one can check the consultant registry body or call the Table de Concertation, 514-272-6060, to see if they may make specific recommendations regarding reputable consultants.

It is extremely important to find a good attorney and to continue to work with him or her on preparing one’s claim and collecting documentation particular to one’s individual case. This is especially important because the Canadian Immigration system currently lacks an effective process of appeal. If you lose your case, there are only slender forms of relief available thereafter.

Vermont Immigration and Asylum Advocates, 241 N. Winooski Ave., Burlington, VT 05401-3620, ph: (802) 864-3200

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