(Below is a transcription of this video)
Hi, this is Michael Niren, immigration lawyer and founder of Visaplace.com. We had a question. “I was refused before for a visa, and now I want to apply again. Can I?” Well, the answer is yes, of course, you certainly can apply for a visa after refusal. There’s nothing prohibiting you from doing that. However, let me rephrase the question to be a little bit more helpful.
Can a Prior Canadian Visa Refusal Affect my Application for a New Visa?
“Will the prior refusal affect my application for a new visa?” And the answer to that is it could possibly, definitely affect a new application. A prior immigration history, we call it. So if you were refused in the past, and you want to try again and apply for a visa, generally speaking the rule is this. That you have to provide additional or new information that wasn’t presented with respect to the original application because if you’re just going to send the same application in with the same information, you’re probably going to get the same result.
Include all the Relevant Documents When Applying for Your VisaÂ
So, for example, if you applied for a student visa or a work visa and you didn’t include all the relevant information and the immigration officer looked at the application and refused you, there could be an opportunity to reapply with further information and more detail that would help the officer to make a more informed decision, and hopefully a positive one. So that’s something that often happens that we see that someone will, you know, try their best to apply for a visa, but all the information or the relevant information wasn’t included or wasn’t properly presented and there could be some confusion or just lack of information that resulted in a refusal. So just because you received a refusal before doesn’t mean that you can’t apply.
Reasons for Visa Refusal
Now there could be some other circumstances, like a prior immigration history regarding an overstay, or some problems you had with immigration that could affect your visa as well. So there are a lot of circumstances that have to be taken into account before just reapplying and hoping for the best. Now, sometimes you apply, you include all the information, you have a good case, but for whatever reason, your application is still refused. That could be an opportunity to appeal the decision.
Now, that’s a different story altogether. An appeal is a formal procedure which usually involves a lawyer. You should definitely consider hiring a lawyer for that because it’s a technical thing where you go to court in some cases and you apply for an appeal to overturn the decision of the officer.
Visa Refusal Appeal Process
Now, appeal processes can take a long time. They can be somewhat costly and there’s no guarantee that after the application or the appeal is submitted that you’re going to get a positive decision anyway. But that’s something that is always an option for someone who may get a refusal. It may be something that can be done, depending upon the circumstances or it’s just not available, but you know it’s an option to consider. Appeals always have deadlines, so if you wait too long after a refusal, and then you decide to appeal you may be out of luck because you waited too long because there’s always statutory time periods within which you have to file the appeal.
So my advice is that if you did get a refusal, you still could consider re-applying, depending upon the circumstances. So hopefully this has given you some helpful information, some hope. If you like the video, click like and feel free to visit us at www.visaplace.com.
Has Your Visa Application Been Refused?
If your immigration application was refused, then contact us right away. Delaying could mean that you will lose your appeal rights. The first step towards appealing your refusal is to get an assessment of your specific situation. Getting started is easy, all you need to is use our free immigration online assessment form and we will get back to you within 24 hours to discuss your Canadian immigration options.
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
