Question & Answer – Location of Rehab Application (IR-09)

Meurrens LawImmigration Trends

The following is an e-mail exchange between an immigration representative and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) regarding criminal rehabilitation applications.  Criminal rehabilitation applications are the process through which certain criminally inadmissible individuals can apply to become admissible to Canada, and resolve their inadmissibility.

Please note that what I have reproduced below should not be viewed as legal advice.  I obtained a copy of this internal CIC question and answer through an Access to Information Act request the (“ATI”).  The reproduction of question and answer has not occurred with the affiliation of the Government of Canada, nor with the endorsement of the Government of Canada.  Please e-mail me if you want a copy of the original question and answer contained in the ATI.

Question – May 20, 2013

Dear Madam, Sir,

My client is a foreign national who filed a PR application based on the spousal category from outside Canada (i.e. in CPC Mississauga). He also needs an Approval for Rehabilitation, however, and is currently temporarily in Canada on a TRP.

At the Immigration Summit last November in Toronto, I heard a GIC representative suggest that the PR sponsorship and the Rehab should be submitted together to CPC Mississauga. Therefore, that is what I did for my client. However, CPC Mississauga returned the Rehab application, stating that I need to file it in the correct visa office.

Can you please advise where the Rehab needs to be filed? Since I plan to renew my client’s TRP through Vegreville, should I file the Rehab there at the same time?

Thank you for your guidance.

Answer – May 24, 2013

Good day and thank you for your question.

Rehabilitation applications can be sent to regional Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) offices if the client is in Canada or to an overseas visa office, where the client is residing.

Unfortunately, we cannot provide you with specific details on the location of the offices as we don’t have information about the location of the client.

We recommend that you communicate with the call centre for CIC for further clarifications and details. You may reach the call centre by calling 1-888-242-2100.

That’s not really much of an answer from CIC, and it’s probably because they’re unsure why CPC-M returned the rehabilitation application instead of forwarding it to the visa post with the rest of the immigration application.