Your refugee claim was refused: the RAD appeal, step by step

Your refugee claim was refused by the Refugee Protection Division (RPD). You are allowed to feel the blow — and then you should know this: for most claimants, the refusal is the middle of the process, not the end. The appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) starts with a notice filed within 15 days (to be verified — RAD Rules).

Step 1 — Find the date you received the reasons

The deadlines run from when you receive the RPD's written reasons — the document that explains why the claim was refused. Find it, note the date it reached you, and keep the envelope or the email. Every calculation that follows depends on that date. If you were refused orally at the hearing, the written reasons still follow, and they are what the appeal works from.

Step 2 — Check that you have access to the RAD

Most refused claimants can appeal to the RAD, but not all. Some categories of files are excluded — for example, certain claims processed under particular procedures or found to have no credible basis. Your decision letter and your file history answer this question. If the RAD is not available to you, the recourse is judicial review at the Federal Court, within 15 days (to be verified — IRPA s. 72(2)) — a different procedure, where only a lawyer can represent you. Confirming which path applies is the first thing I check.

Step 3 — File the notice of appeal

The notice of appeal is a short document, but it must be filed within 15 days (to be verified — RAD Rules) of receiving the reasons. Filing it protects your position. It also matters for removal: while a RAD appeal is ongoing, a removal order against you is generally paused by law.

Step 4 — Build the real appeal

The complete appeal record — called perfecting the appeal — is due 30 days (to be verified — RAD Rules) after you received the reasons. This is where the appeal is won or lost. The RAD does not rehear your story; it reviews what the RPD did with it. So the memorandum attacks specific errors:

• Credibility errors — a conclusion built on a minor inconsistency, a misreading of your testimony, an implausibility finding that ignores how things actually work in your country.
• Errors of fact — evidence in the record that the member overlooked or got wrong.
• Errors of law — the wrong legal test, or the right test applied badly.

The RAD can also accept new evidence, but only evidence that arose after your hearing or was not reasonably available before it — with an explanation of why. A document you simply forgot to file rarely qualifies. A document that did not exist yet often does.

Step 5 — Know the possible outcomes

The RAD decides most appeals on the written record, without a new hearing. It can allow the appeal and recognize you as a protected person, send the file back to the RPD for a new hearing, or confirm the refusal. If it confirms, judicial review at the Federal Court remains possible, within 15 days (to be verified — IRPA s. 72(2)).

A note on language and representation

You have the right to a lawyer for your appeal, and the appeal can be run in English from start to finish — many of my RAD files are. If your hearing went badly because of how the interpretation or the questioning unfolded, say so: that can itself be a ground of appeal. I work in English and Spanish directly, without an interpreter, and I represent appellants anywhere in Canada, because the RAD is a federal tribunal.

What working with me looks like

You send me the written reasons and your RPD file. I read the decision line by line against the record and tell you honestly what the appeal can argue — and if I see nothing, I tell you that too, while the deadline still leaves you time to seek another opinion. If we proceed, I file the notice, draft the memorandum, prepare the new evidence, and carry the appeal through. If you qualify for legal aid, we look at that first.

The 15 days are already counting. Let's talk about it.