Refused · What now
Reapply, or ask the Federal Court to look at it
There is no appeal against a temporary resident refusal. There are two routes, they answer different problems, and only one of them has a deadline running right now.
The short answer
Reapply when the officer weighed your evidence and found it thin. There is no waiting period, and new evidence is exactly what that route is for. Go to the Federal Court when the decision itself was unreasonable or the process unfair, and do it inside 15 days if the matter arose in Canada or 60 days if it arose outside. The officer's notes are what tell you which of those you are looking at.
There is no appeal, and that is not a technicality
People arrive at this looking for someone to reconsider the decision on its merits. For a temporary resident refusal, no such body exists. Nobody at IRCC will re-weigh your documents, and there is no tribunal to write to. Understanding that early saves weeks spent writing letters that will not be read as anything but correspondence.
What you have instead is a fresh application, or a court that examines how the decision was made rather than whether it was right.
Which route you are in
This is not a preference. It follows from what the officer's notes say, which is why reading them properly comes before deciding anything.
Reapply when
- The officer named a ground and your evidence on it was genuinely thin.
- Something real has changed: funds with a history, a job, a completed course.
- A document existed but was never filed, or was filed without explanation.
- You can show the specific thing the officer could not see last time.
The Court when
- The notes ignore evidence that was plainly in front of the officer.
- The reasons contradict the file, or contradict themselves.
- A concern was never put to you when fairness required it.
- The finding does not follow from anything on the record.
The distinction that decides it
Your deadline, worked out
Only one of the two routes has a clock, and it starts when you are notified, not when you finish gathering documents, and not when an access request comes back.
Your Federal Court date
Enter the date on your refusal letter to see the last day to file.
What the Court process actually involves
Filing is the beginning, not the event. This is the shape of it, from the Federal Court's own guidance.
- 01
You file the application for leave
- 02
Your record follows within 30 days
- 03
The Minister answers within 30 days
- 04
A judge decides leave on paper
- 05
If leave is granted, a hearing
If the Court is your route, bring it to us
Reapplying so that it works this time
Most people are in this column, and most of them refile too fast. The next officer can see the last refusal and the reasoning behind it. An application that does not visibly answer that reasoning is being read as the same application.
What changes the outcome
What does not
Reading the notes first is not optional here, and since 29 July 2025 they arrive with the letter, so start there. Then the reasons themselves, for a study permit or a visitor visa.
Questions about appealing a refusal
Can I appeal an IRCC refusal?
You cannot appeal an IRCC refusal on a temporary resident application. No tribunal hears an appeal against a refused visitor visa, study permit or work permit, and the appeal form people spend weeks searching for does not exist. Two routes exist instead, and they suit different problems. Reapplying is available at any time unless the refusal letter bars it, costs another fee, and is the right answer when the officer's finding is something you can answer with better evidence, which describes most refusals. Applying to the Federal Court for leave and judicial review is the other, and it is the right answer when the decision itself was unreasonable or the process was unfair rather than when your documents were thin. Read the officer's notes before choosing, because they tell you which of the two you are actually facing.
Is judicial review the same as an appeal?
Judicial review is not the same as an appeal, and the difference decides most cases before anyone gets to court. An appeal is a second look at the merits, where a fresh decision-maker asks whether the right answer was reached. Judicial review asks something narrower: whether the decision was reasonable and whether the process was fair, on the material the officer actually had in front of them at the time. New evidence is generally not admitted, which is the practical consequence people miss. So the sentence "I have better documents now" is an argument for reapplying rather than an argument for court, and taking it to a judge wastes months and a great deal of money. Court is for a decision that was wrong on its own terms. A reapplication is for a file that was thin.
What are the chances at the Federal Court?
Leave is a genuine filter at the Federal Court, and it is where most applications end. It is decided in writing by a judge without either side appearing, most applications do not get past it, and there is no appeal from that decision. If leave is granted, a hearing follows between 30 and 90 days after the order, which is fast by the standards of most litigation. Those are the mechanics, and they are the only general things anybody can tell you honestly. Anyone quoting you a success rate without having read what is in your officer's notes is guessing, because the prospects turn entirely on what the officer wrote and whether it was reasonable on the material they had. Get the notes read first. The answer to this question lives in them rather than in a statistic.
What happens if I miss the 15 or 60 day deadline?
Missing the 15 or 60 day deadline does not always end it, but it moves you onto much weaker ground. A judge of the Federal Court may allow an extended time for filing, for special reasons, so a missed deadline is not automatically the end of the route, but it is no longer yours to assume. It is not something to rely on, and it is not a formality that gets waved through because you were gathering documents or looking for a lawyer. The argument for special reasons gets harder the longer the delay runs, and a delay of months is a different proposition from a delay of days. So the practical advice is to treat the deadline as real from the moment you are notified. If judicial review is even a possibility, get the file looked at inside the first week. Reapplying remains open whatever happens to the court route, and for most refusals it was always the better answer anyway. A missed court deadline costs you the court route. It does not cost you the application, which you can file again as soon as the file is genuinely stronger.
Should I reapply while the judicial review is pending?
Sometimes, and it is a real strategic decision rather than a formality to be waved through. Two things cut in opposite directions. A fresh application can moot the litigation, because a favourable decision on the new file removes the practical point of arguing about the old one, and a court may see it that way whether or not you intended it. The two files can also cut against each other, with a second application read as an admission that the first was thin. Which of those matters depends on what the officer actually found and on what has genuinely changed since, so the answer turns on your own refusal notes rather than on a general rule. Do not run both on instinct. Get someone to read the notes and the timeline together before filing anything.
Where this comes from
- Justice Canada — Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 72 (judicial review)
- Federal Court — How to file an Application for Leave and for Judicial Review (Immigration)
- Justice Canada — Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 91 (who may represent)
- IRCC — Explaining application refusals: Officer decision notes
A refusal, and a clock
Tell us the date on the letter. We will tell you which route you are in.
We read the officer’s reasoning, say whether this is a file to rebuild or a decision to challenge, and take on the Court route where that is the answer. If neither is worth your money yet, we will say so.
Three fields · about 30 seconds