Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) in Canada: Who Qualifies and How to Apply
What a PRRA Means for Your Removal Order, and the Deadline You Cannot Miss
If you have been told you are being removed from Canada, you may still have one option left. A Pre-Removal Risk Assessment, usually called a PRRA, seeks to determine if you would be at risk if Canada deported you to your country of origin or residence?
It is not a second chance to argue your immigration case. It is a narrow assessment of risk, with a short deadline and strict rules about what evidence counts. Those rules are where most people go wrong, often before they have spoken to anyone.
This guide explains who can apply, what the assessment actually looks at, and what your options are if it is refused.
What Is a PRRA?
Canada does not remove people to a country where they would face persecution, torture, or a risk to their life. Before a removal is carried out, most people are given the chance to apply for a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment so that risk can be considered.
An officer reviews your PRRA application and supporting documentation and decides whether deporting you would expose you to any such risks. If the answer is yes, you are generally allowed to stay. If the answer is no, the removal proceeds.
Almost all PRRA applications are decided on paper. Hearings do happen, but they are the exception rather than the rule, so ensuring that your written submissions and supporting documents are expertly drafted and compiled is extremely important for your case.
Who Is Eligible to Apply for a PRRA?
Generally, you may be offered a PRRA if you are in Canada and subject to a removal order that is enforceable.
You will usually not go looking for a PRRA. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will notify you and give you the application when your removal becomes enforceable. When that notice arrives, the clock starts immediately for you to submit your PRRA application.
Who Cannot Apply
Not everyone facing removal is eligible, and this is the part most people are unaware of.
There is a bar that prevents some people from applying if their refugee claim was rejected, withdrawn, or abandoned, or if they had a previous PRRA refused, within a set period before the application. There are also restrictions for people found inadmissible on serious grounds, and for people covered by certain agreements about where a claim should be made.
If you fall into one of these categories, a PRRA may not be available to you. That does not necessarily mean you are out of options, but it does mean the route is different, and you should get legal advice about what other options there may be for you.
What Risks Does the Officer Consider?
Most PRRA applications are assessed with respect to:
(A) Whether the applicant has a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country (country of nationality or, if they do not have one, the country where they usually lived) based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group; and because of this fear, they are unwilling or unable to return to or seek protection in that country; or
(B) Whether the applicant’s return to their country would subject them personally to:
- A danger of torture; or
- A risk to life, or of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment, if:
- Because of that risk, they are unable/unwilling to seek protection in their country;
- They would face the risk in every part of that country;
- The risk is not the result of legitimate sanctions (except those imposed in violation of international standards); and
- The risk is not caused by the inability of the country to provide adequate health or medical care.
However, assessment of your application will be limited to the grounds outlined in (B) if you:
- Have been determined to be inadmissible for serious criminality because you were convicted in Canada of a crime punishable by 10 or more years in prison, and you received a prison sentence of two or more years; or
- Have been determined inadmissible on grounds of security, human or international rights violations or organized criminality; or
- Made a refugee claim and it was rejected on the basis of section F of Article 1 of the Refugee Convention; or
- Are named in a certificate referred to in subsection 77(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
General hardship is not enough. Poor economic conditions, limited healthcare, or the fact that your life is simply better in Canada will not succeed on their own, however genuinely difficult the situation is.
The New Evidence Rule, and Why Applications Fail on It
If you previously made a refugee claim that was refused, your PRRA will generally only consider evidence that arose after that refusal, or that you could not reasonably have presented at the time.
This single rule defeats a large number of applications. People often resubmit the same country conditions and the same personal history that the Refugee Protection Division already considered and rejected. An officer will not revisit that. What moves a PRRA is what has changed: a deterioration in conditions in your home country, a new threat directed at you, a change in your personal circumstances, or evidence that genuinely was not available to you before.
Building an application around genuinely new, properly documented risk is the difference between a PRRA that is considered and one that is dismissed on the first page.
How to Apply, and the Deadline
You may not apply for a PRRA unless the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has notified you that you may do so, and given you a Notification Regarding a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment. The deadline to submit your PRRA application is short, and there is normally a further short period to file your written submissions and supporting evidence.
Your submissions can only include new evidence. If you have had a refugee claim or a previous PRRA application rejected, you may only provide new evidence which has arisen since the most recent rejection. New evidence is evidence that arose after the rejection, or that was not normally accessible, or that you could not reasonably have been expected to have presented at the time of the rejection.
PRRA Application Checklist
- [ ] Confirm your deadline the day you receive the CBSA notice;
- [ ] Identify what has changed since any prior refugee claim or PRRA refusal;
- [ ] Gather objective, dated evidence (reports, records, sworn statements);
- [ ] Write a detailed personal statement tying evidence to your specific risk;
- [ ] Arrange certified translations for any non-English or non-French documents;
- [ ] Confirm whether your filing triggers an automatic stay of removal.
Does Applying Stop Your Removal?
In most cases, applying within the deadline triggers an automatic stay of removal while the application is decided. Not every applicant gets this. Some categories are excluded, and a late application may not attract a stay at all.
Do not assume you are protected because you have applied. Confirm your specific situation before your removal date.
How Long Does a PRRA Take?
Processing times vary considerably depending on the office handling the file and the complexity of the risk being assessed. Because a stay of removal usually runs alongside the application, the wait is generally spent in Canada, not abroad.
What Happens If Your PRRA Is Refused?
A refusal is not automatically the end of the matter.
You can apply to the Federal Court of Canada for leave and judicial review of the decision: challenging the refusal of your PRRA application. That is not a re-argument of the risk itself. It asks the court whether the officer’s decision was reasonable and/or whether the decision-making process was fair.
Filing for judicial review does not, by itself, stop your removal. A separate motion to stay the removal is usually required, and it has to be brought quickly. This is the point where timing matters most and so too legal representation.
Where a PRRA Fits Against H&C and Judicial Review
A PRRA, a humanitarian and compassionate application, and judicial review are three different tools, and people frequently confuse them.
| Option | What it asks | Timing |
| PRRA | Would you face persecution, torture, or a risk to life if removed? | Triggered by CBSA notice, short fixed deadline |
| Judicial review | Was the PRRA officer’s decision reasonable and fair? | Filed after a PRRA refusal, tight deadline |
| H&C application | Are there humanitarian and compassionate grounds to let you stay regardless of risk? | Can be filed independently, not tied to a removal notice |
Depending on your circumstances, an application on humanitarian and compassionate grounds may also be worth considering, either instead of or alongside other steps.
How We Can Help
Eastman Immigration Law Office has acted for clients facing removal from Canada for over twenty years, including PRRA applications, stay of removal motions and judicial review in the Federal Court.
A PRRA is decided on the application forms and supporting documents you file, under a deadline that does not move, on rules that are easy to misapply.
