A removal order arrived: your options

A removal order is a legal document, and legal documents have legal answers. Depending on your situation, a removal can be paused, challenged, or overtaken by another status. This guide walks through the options in the order they usually come up. Which ones apply to you depends on your file — that is the first thing to establish.

First: understand what you received

Three types of order exist. A departure order gives you 30 days (to be verified — IRPA regulations) to leave and confirm your departure — and if you do, you can normally come back later. An exclusion order bars return for a fixed period; a deportation order bars it permanently, unless written permission is granted. The type of order changes both the stakes and the strategy, so read the document carefully and keep every page — including the envelope or email it came with, because dates of receipt drive the deadlines that follow.

Second: check whether the order is enforceable yet

Many removal orders are paused — stayed — automatically while a procedure is ongoing: a pending refugee claim, an appeal at the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD), or in many cases a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA). If one of these applies to you, the order exists but cannot be executed yet. The question then becomes how those procedures are going, because the order becomes enforceable when they end.

Option: the PRRA

If the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) offers you a PRRA, applying within 15 days (to be verified — IRPA regulations) pauses the removal while it is decided. The PRRA assesses the risk you would face if returned. If your refugee claim was already refused, only new evidence counts — evidence from after your hearing. It is a real option, but a targeted one, and it needs to be built with documents, not filed empty.

Option: a deferral request to the CBSA

You can ask the CBSA officer, in writing, to postpone the removal. The officer's power is narrow: it covers short-term, concrete obstacles — a medical treatment underway, a child's school year ending, a decision about to be issued in another file. A deferral request supported by evidence is a serious document; one without evidence is a letter.

Option: the Federal Court

A stay motion at the Federal Court asks a judge to suspend the removal while a legal challenge — usually a judicial review of a refusal in your file — is decided. The judge applies a three-part test: a serious issue, irreparable harm, and the balance of convenience. This is the strongest tool when the CBSA has refused to defer and a removal date is set. At the Federal Court, only a lawyer can represent you; consultants cannot appear there.

Option: humanitarian and compassionate (H&C)

An H&C application asks Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent residence based on your establishment in Canada, the best interests of children affected, and hardship. Filing one does not pause a removal by itself. But in the right file it is the long-term answer, and it can run alongside the tools above. There is no deadline to file it — but its content changes if you are removed first, which is why sequencing matters.

Throughout: comply while you contest

Attend every CBSA appointment and keep your address current. Missing an appointment can turn into an arrest warrant and undermines every request that follows. Contesting a removal legally and complying with the process are not opposites; the second protects the first.

What I do

I establish the exact status of your order, then match the tools to your file — often two or three of them in parallel: a documented deferral request, a PRRA or judicial review, a stay motion if a date is set, an H&C where the facts support it. I am a lawyer, a member of the Barreau du Québec, and I represent clients anywhere in Canada, in English, French or Spanish. If you qualify for legal aid, we look at that first.

If the order is in your hands, the next step is simply to find out which of these options your file supports. Let's talk about it.