You can now get a refund for poor immigration services
The Government of Canada is introducing partial reimbursement for government services that are not provided to the standard.
The Government of Canada is introducing a new policy on compensation for public services that were not provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in accordance with quality standards. The changes will take effect on April 1, 2021.
Now when an individual receives a service and the deadline is not met, the Department must refund a portion of the fee paid. Refunds will be available for citizenship eligibility fees, participation in international experience programs and for certain fees related to passports and travel documents. Application for the service must be submitted after April 1. The reimbursement is usually issued by July 1 of the following fiscal year.
If the deadline was not met because of exceptional circumstances, there will be no refund. Exceptional circumstances are those that are beyond the control of the Department of Immigration, including:
- unforeseen system failures;
- natural disasters;
- emergencies that caused office closures;
- Reduced services in the office or too much application flow that disrupts office operations;
- unforeseen office closures;
- disruption of work activities;
- outages of third-party services or service providers if the Department does not have a contract with the provider;
- legislative or policy changes adopted by another State.
Service standards
Right of Citizenship service
The first invitation to the citizenship ceremony must be sent to the applicant within 4 months from the date of approval. The reimbursement will be:
- 25% of the fee if the deadline is exceeded by less than 10 business days;
- 50% of the fee if exceeded by 11 business days or more.
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