1. Understand how vacation cases start

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) usually starts vacation cases. They may start a vacation case against you if they believe you got refugee protection through misrepresentation.

Misrepresentation means giving untrue or incorrect information or leaving out important information.

CBSA can get evidence for a vacation investigation from different sources, such as:

• sharing information with other Canadian government agencies, including Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and provincial governments and agencies
• police and court documents
• evidence from past immigration, refugee, or citizenship applications that you made or that other people made
• sharing information with foreign governments, for example, photos taken at a border or immigration and travel records

The full details of how CBSA conducts investigates are secret.

You should get legal advice if you're thinking of making any immigration or citizenship application and the information you need to provide might be different from information CBSA or IRCC already has about you.

Vacation hearing

If CBSA starts a vacation case against you, they usually send you and the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) an Application to Vacate Refugee Protection. The Application should usually include:

• the evidence from your original refugee process, and
• CBSA's evidence about why they think you misrepresented.

You will have a vacation hearing and a Member of the RPD decides your case.

Vacation after a PRRA

If you became a protected person through a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA), there is a different vacation process where CBSA or IRCC can decide the case by themselves. In these cases, the RPD does not get involved, and there is no hearing. CBSA or IRCC will usually give you about 15 days to respond in writing before deciding. You can ask for more time. Get legal help right away.