Refugee status cessation and PRs applying for citizenship

[abff08f4813c]

New cessation case: https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2025/2025fc1672/2025fc1672.html

This is a tough one.

The first reason - to attend to her ill father - was accepted as "exceptional" by the RPD. This happened during COVID, incidentally.

I know that virtual funerals are a thing, https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/health/virtual-funerals-coronavirus-wellness - but someone willing to take that risk during peak COVID, prior to a vaccine, of international travel to attend a funeral.. if someone is willing to risk their life against an inhuman agent of nature like that, to me that strongly suggests that the applicant also would have been willing to travel despite the risk of persecution and even on fear of pain of death from the state (and so not due to a lack of persecution).

But for the IVF in 2022 - if Canada didn't work for the IVF, why not try to get a visa to do it in the nearby US? Or go to a country like Jordan that is visa free for Egyptian citizens - they have places that can do IVF. (edit: for example, https://ivf-worldwide.com/ivf-directory/asia/jordan/4021-hope_fertility_clinic.html )

But unlike the previous case ( https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2025/2025fc1596/2025fc1596.html ), this doesn't seem like one where the applicant was warned about the consequences of travel to Egypt by CBSA at any point in time.

I suspect that at least the IVF would have happened elsewhere had the proper warnings been given, and I feel that there might not have been a cessation application made if it were just the first two trips. (The first being a certainty as it was confirmed as exceptional and not voluntary by RPD. The second is weaker, as funerals aren't generally regarded as being exceptional as per case law, but with just one mistake it's possible the department might have just chosen not to pursue.)

 

[JustaNewbie]

Hi everyone.

Does cessation rules apply to overseas dependents of protected persons as well after they have gotten PR and arrived in Canada?

 

[abff08f4813c]

Hi everyone.

Does cessation rules apply to overseas dependents of protected persons as well after they have gotten PR and arrived in Canada?

Unfortunately, yes. If you look earlier on this thread, https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i...-for-citizenship.333455/page-76#post-11094961

I mention a case where such a dependent went through cessation and lost a judicial review case at the Federal Court of First Instance, https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2016/2016fc29/2016fc29.html

Do note though that - at least my current understanding - cessation is only to an individual. The loss of refugee status and PR for Shamsi did not affect his mother, and vice versa is also true: if it was Shamsi's mother who had done the things and was undergoing cessation proceedings, but Shamsi himself never got a new passport or set foot on the home country, then Shamsi wouldn't have been at risk of losing PR.

 

[JustaNewbie]

Unfortunately, yes. If you look earlier on this thread, https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i...-for-citizenship.333455/page-76#post-11094961

I mention a case where such a dependent went through cessation and lost a judicial review case at the Federal Court of First Instance, https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2016/2016fc29/2016fc29.html

Do note though that - at least my current understanding - cessation is only to an individual. The loss of refugee status and PR for Shamsi did not affect his mother, and vice versa is also true: if it was Shamsi's mother who had done the things and was undergoing cessation proceedings, but Shamsi himself never got a new passport or set foot on the home country, then Shamsi wouldn't have been at risk of losing PR.

Thank you for your response.

To provide more context. The dependent was not part of the refugee claim and did not arrive Canada with the principal applicant.
They were only added to the PR application as a dependent spouse after the principal applicant's refugee claim was accepted.
Additionally, the principal applicant is now a Canadian citizen however the dependent is still a PR as their PR was just approved and they only just arrived Canada.

With this information, do you think the cessation rules will still apply to them?

 

[abff08f4813c]

Thank you for your response.

To provide more context. The dependent was not part of the refugee claim and did not arrive Canada with the principal applicant.

So at this point, spouse was not yet a protected person.

They were only added to the PR application as a dependent spouse after the principal applicant's refugee claim was accepted.

So my understanding is that, generally speaking, when a spouse is added to a PR application, the spouse comes under the same stream and with the same status as the primary applicant. For example, I met my common law partner in Canada and added this person to my economic stream PR app (Express Entry - CEC specifically). So my own spouse is counted as an economic migrant now.

Thus I believe this is the point where the spouse became a protected person to Canada.

Note that this is different from being sponsored outright as a spousal app - only folks who are already PRs or citizens can do this, but this is its own unique stream with its own rules (for example, a spouse sponsored this way cannot sponsor a new spouse for five years - something my own spouse is able to do since my spouse wasn't under a spousal app). So my understanding is that in this case the protected person status would not have transferred to the spouse.

Additionally, the principal applicant is now a Canadian citizen however the dependent is still a PR as their PR was just approved and they only just arrived Canada.

With this information, do you think the cessation rules will still apply to them?

Unfortunately yes, because the spouse came in via a PR for protected persons route and is thus counted under the protected persons stream.

Also note that while having a Canadian citizen as a spouse is generally seen to help folks retain PR (e.g. if the residency obligation isn't met) we have cases where cessation has been pursued against PR refugees who have citizen spouses. See https://ccrweb.ca/files/cessation-report-2014.pdf for some examples.

 

[JustaNewbie]

So at this point, spouse was not yet a protected person.

So my understanding is that, generally speaking, when a spouse is added to a PR application, the spouse comes under the same stream and with the same status as the primary applicant. For example, I met my common law partner in Canada and added this person to my economic stream PR app (Express Entry - CEC specifically). So my own spouse is counted as an economic migrant now.

Thus I believe this is the point where the spouse became a protected person to Canada.

Note that this is different from being sponsored outright as a spousal app - only folks who are already PRs or citizens can do this, but this is its own unique stream with its own rules (for example, a spouse sponsored this way cannot sponsor a new spouse for five years - something my own spouse is able to do since my spouse wasn't under a spousal app). So my understanding is that in this case the protected person status would not have transferred to the spouse.

Unfortunately yes, because the spouse came in via a PR for protected persons route and is thus counted under the protected persons stream.

Also note that while having a Canadian citizen as a spouse is generally seen to help folks retain PR (e.g. if the residency obligation isn't met) we have cases where cessation has been pursued against PR refugees who have citizen spouses. See https://ccrweb.ca/files/cessation-report-2014.pdf for some examples.

Thank you for your help