3. Get your decision

If the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) held a hearing for you, the RPD Member will make a decision after the hearing.

If you had applied for a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment, then Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) or Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) may handle your case by themselves. In that situation, CBSA or IRCC can give you their decision after they review your written response and evidence.

If your status gets vacated, the law will treat you as if your refugee claim was refused and you never had refugee protection. This means that:

• You lose your protected person status.
• You also lose your permanent resident status, if you had it.
• You become inadmissible to Canada and remain inadmissible until 5 years after the day you leave Canada.
• You cannot make a new refugee claim in Canada.

You can lose your status even if you have lived in Canada for many years.

Ask for judicial review

If your status is vacated, you cannot appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD).

But you can ask the Federal Court to review the vacation decision. This is called judicial review. You must apply for judicial review within 15 days of when you or your representative is notified of the RPD's decision to vacate your refugee protection.

It's very important to have a lawyer help you with a judicial review. You should not try to do this on your own.

If the Federal Court decides that the decision to vacate was not reasonable or not fair, they can cancel that decision and order the RPD, IRCC, or CBSA to redo the process with a new decision maker.