Authorization to Return to Canada (ARC)
What is an Authorization to Return to Canada (ARC)? It is special permission to return to Canada for people who have been removed from Canada under an Exclusion Order or Deportation Order.
An Exclusion Order is in effect for a certain amount of time (usually 1 year, but it’s 5 years for misrepresentation), during which time a person needs to have an ARC to return to Canada. After that time passes, they no longer require an ARC.
A Deportation Order is a permanent bar on returning to Canada so an ARC is always required. Once granted, the ARC removes the inability to return.
You need only apply once for an ARC.
The decision to grant an ARC is discretionary and depends on the circumstances that led to the removal order being issued and also the reason the person is seeking to return to Canada. That reason has to be compelling. It is often difficult to get an ARC to facilitate returning to Canada as a temporary resident (visitor, student or worker) because of person’s past negative interaction with immigration which led to the issuance of a removal order. An ARC accompanying a permanent residence application is much more compelling as there no issues of that person ‘overstaying’ their time in Canada.
The most recent ARC application I submitted was to accompany a spousal sponsorship. My client, a Canadian citizen, was in a relationship with a foreign national who had come to Canada and made a refugee claim. She was being assisted by a non-profit organization who failed to properly update her address. She never received notification of her hearing, leading to her refugee claim being declared abandoned. CBSA made removal arrangements. That’s when they came to see me. They were not yet married and had not-cohabited to meet the definition of common-law. So, an in-Canada sponsorship was not possible. They wanted to get married and had already arranged a date in the not-so-distant future. We made a request to CBSA to defer her removal to allow them to marry and for her to be sponsored. The request was refused.
The clients had the option of trying to get the Federal Court involved in granting a Stay, but due to the very small chance of that succeeding (for a host of reasons I won’t get into here), they decided their money was better spent on filing an outside-Canada sponsorship. The application was very thorough in terms of establishing that the marriage was genuine, but we also made extensive submissions on why the ARC should be granted. That was filed in November 2018 and we just received the approved ARC decision and medical requests a few weeks ago!
Clients are thrilled that they are that much closer to once again being together in Canada after this prolonged separation which has been understandably trying on them both!
If you have questions about removal orders and returning to Canada, contact me.