Find out about legal aid for people with low incomes
Question & Answer
Where can I get legal advice about immigration status in Canada?If your income is low enough, you may be able to get help from Legal Aid Ontario (LAO). You have to give LAO information about any income, property, or savings that you have so they can decide if you meet their financial eligibility rules.
Legal aid certificates
You might get a legal aid certificate to pay lawyers for specific services. They don't pay for the services of consultants who are not lawyers.
If you get a , a lawyer can charge LAO for up to a certain number of hours for the work that the certificate is for.
What LAO can help with
LAO can help with some immigration problems. For example, LAO might be able help if:
- someone is detained for immigration reasons
- someone is appealing to the Immigration Appeal Division because there's a against them
- in certain situations, Canada Border Services Agency is ready to remove them from Canada
They may be able to help with other refugee and immigration law problems but it depends on the situation.
LAO may pay for a lawyer to help with a humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) application in certain cases. But LAO does not always provide a legal aid certificate for H&C applications. It is best to have a lawyer prepare your H&C application. So it is a good idea to call LAO and find out if they will pay for a lawyer for your case.
How LAO decides whether you qualify
LAO considers a number of things when deciding whether to give you a legal aid certificate.
For example, they look at whether your “case has merit”. So, if you're appealing a deportation order, they look at how likely it is that your appeal will be successful.
They also consider whether a reasonable person who could pay for a lawyer would do that if they were in your situation.
Finding a lawyer
If you get a legal aid certificate, you need to find a lawyer who accepts it.
On the LAO website, you can search a list of lawyers who accept legal aid certificates. You can search for lawyers by office location and by language. You can also say if you need a lawyer who helps if there is domestic violence.
You can also contact one of LAO's staff offices in Hamilton, Ottawa, and Toronto directly.
Staff offices
LAO has staff offices in Hamilton, Ottawa, and Toronto. Lawyers at these offices can represent some refugee claimants who qualify for legal aid services. They may also be able to provide other immigration law services that LAO covers, for example, representing people at detention reviews.
