Canada increases flexibility for refugees facing exit barriers

Applicants for refugee settlement to Canada are legally exempt from the requirement to produce an exit permit or proof of legal status in their host country in order to process their application.

New program instructions from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) confirm that these documents are not required under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to issue a permanent residence (PR) visa.

The same delivery update also clarifies greater flexibility for refugees who cannot travel with their dependents when a permanent residence visa has been issued—providing them with the ability to omit family members from a PR application to facilitate entry.

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What the new guidance says

Many refugees applying for resettlement to Canada live in host countries that require an exit permit to leave. In some cases, applicants cannot obtain one, due to barriers beyond an applicant’s control, such as not having legal status in the host country or high registration fees.

The new guidance addresses this directly by exempting these applicants from needing to provide an exit permit to process their settlement applications. This means IRCC officers are able to fully process a resettlement application without needing the exit permit, even if it is required by an applicant to leave their host country.

If the applicant is not inadmissible and meets the requirements of the resettlement program, the officer should approve the application. An inability to obtain an exit permit is not valid grounds for a refusal.

What happens when an applicant cannot exit

When an applicant faces exit barriers from their host country, the guidance sets out three pathways.

• Withdrawal: The applicant may choose to withdraw their application. IRCC cannot withdraw an application on its own — only the applicant or their designated representative can initiate this.
• File placed on hold: If the officer believes the applicant's situation may change soon, the file can be placed on hold for a defined period, usually up to six months. The hold cannot be indefinite, since IRCC has a duty to process applications in a timely manner. Note that medical exams may expire during a hold and require reassessment before processing resumes.
• Proceed to final decision: If the applicant meets all program requirements, the officer approves the application and issues the PR visa. The applicant then has until the visa expiry date to exit their host country and travel to Canada. If they cannot exit before the visa expires, the file closes in internally, and a new application is required.

A note on family members who cannot exit

In exceptional circumstances — such as an imminent threat to life or physical safety — a principal applicant may choose to have dependents who cannot obtain an exit permit reclassified from "accompanying" to "non-accompanying."

This allows the principal applicant and (other eligible family members) to resettle in Canada without further delay—albeit at the expense of having to leave family members behind.

Reunification with the remaining dependents may then be pursued later through other pathways, such as the One-Year Window* or Family Class sponsorship. However, approval of those applications is not guaranteed.

*The One-Year Window is a provision specifically designed for resettled refugees. It allows the principal applicant to bring certain family members to Canada, who were declared on the original resettlement application but could not be processed at the same time — typically a spouse, common-law partner, or dependent children.

To use it, the principal applicant must submit the request within one year of arriving in Canada as a permanent resident.

Approval of these follow-up applications is not guaranteed. Family members must still meet the requirements of the program they apply under at the time of submission.

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