You left Canada under a removal order four years ago. Your circumstances have changed, you have a job offer or a spouse in Canada, and you have been told you need “an ARC” before any application will be considered. This post explains what an Authorization to Return to Canada is, who actually needs one, what officers look at, and how it fits alongside the visa or permanent residence application you are really trying to make.
Start with the type of removal order
Whether you need an Authorization to Return to Canada depends entirely on which of the three kinds of removal order was issued against you, and on what happened afterward. We explain the three orders in detail in our post on removal orders; the short version is this.
- Departure order. You were required to leave Canada within 30 days and confirm your departure with the Canada Border Services Agency. If you did both, no authorization is needed and you may return subject to the ordinary entry requirements. If you did not confirm your departure within 30 days, the departure order became a deportation order by operation of law, and the rules below for deportation orders apply.
- Exclusion order. You are barred from returning for one year, or for five years if the order was issued for misrepresentation. To return within that period you need an Authorization to Return to Canada. After it expires, you do not.
- Deportation order. The bar is permanent. You need an Authorization to Return to Canada regardless of how much time has passed.
Many people are unsure which order they received or whether their departure was confirmed. That can be established from CBSA records, and it should be the first step before any application is prepared.
Repaying removal costs
If CBSA paid to remove you from Canada, those costs must be repaid before an authorization will be granted. The amounts are set by regulation and depend on where you were removed to. Proof of repayment forms part of the application.
What the officer considers
An Authorization to Return to Canada is discretionary. The officer weighs, among other things:
- the reasons the removal order was issued in the first place;
- whether you complied with the order, including whether you left when required and cooperated with CBSA;
- how much time has passed since the removal;
- whether your circumstances have changed in a way that reduces the likelihood of the original problem recurring;
- your reasons for wanting to return, and whether they are compelling; and
- whether you are inadmissible on any other ground that would need to be resolved separately.
The last point is critical. An authorization addresses the removal order and nothing else. If the order was issued because of criminality, you may also need criminal rehabilitation. If it was issued because of misrepresentation, the five-year bar under section 40 runs independently and cannot be shortened by an authorization. Our posts on criminal rehabilitation and the misrepresentation bar explain those separate hurdles.
How the application is made
The authorization is requested on the prescribed form with the applicable fee, and it is normally submitted together with the application you actually want decided: a visitor visa, a study or work permit, or a permanent residence application. Officers assess the two together. A strong underlying application makes the authorization more likely, and a weak one makes it less likely, because the officer is being asked whether there is good reason to lift the bar for this particular purpose.
Supporting evidence should be built around the factors above: documents showing compliance with the original order, evidence of what has changed in your life, a clear and honest account of the circumstances that led to the removal, and evidence of ties and obligations that support the purpose of the return.
Common mistakes
The errors we see most often are avoidable. Applicants minimise or omit the history that led to the removal, which officers read as a lack of candour and which can amount to a new misrepresentation. Applicants apply for a visa without the authorization, wasting the fee and creating a refusal on the record. And applicants assume that because a departure order was issued, no authorization is needed, without checking whether their departure was ever confirmed.
Where a Temporary Resident Permit fits
In some cases the more realistic route is a Temporary Resident Permit, which allows entry despite inadmissibility for a specific purpose and period. Whether an authorization, a permit, or both is the right instrument depends on the ground of inadmissibility and the purpose of the visit. Our temporary resident visa and permit page and our inadmissibility page describe how we assess this.
Get the history right before you apply
An Authorization to Return to Canada is an exercise in persuading an officer that the past is genuinely past. If you have been removed from Canada and want to come back, book a consultation with Kabir & Alam Lawyers. We can obtain your records, identify every bar that applies, and prepare an application that addresses each of them.