Can the Refugee Appeal Division give me more time?
Short answer
In Canada, the Regulations provide that the Refugee Appeal Division may extend the appeal time limits for reasons of fairness and natural justice (s. 159.91 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations).
In detail
The 15-day and 30-day limits in section 159.91 are not presented as absolute. The Regulations themselves contemplate that the Division may extend them where fairness and natural justice require it.
That possibility does not remove the need to act: it presupposes a request, and that request rests on facts. What is examined is the circumstances that explain the delay.
As with any request based on circumstances, it is dated, verifiable material that documents the situation.
What to document
What explains the delay, day by day: the date you received the reasons, health problems, difficulty finding counsel, a change of address, mail that never arrived. Keep the corresponding proof (medical appointments, emails, change-of-address notices).
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
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Official sources
Related questions
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- Does time spent abroad with my Canadian spouse count?
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.