Dear
@amam2024
Yes! You can definitely submit a request to IRB for your refugee application to be considered and processed under the File Review Process (Less Complex) without a hearing. This is officially published on IRB's website. This is a link from IRB's website about this process:
https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/forms/Pages/request-file-review-processing.aspx
There is a
form that should be filled, and there are certain parameters/
requirements that should be met for the request to be entertained: Mainly that your identity is confirmed (by passport, ID, etc.), that you, the claimant, believe that your claim is straightforward and not of a complex nature (no criminal background, etc.); you have satisfactory evidence, you come from a country with high approval rating, etc...
If you meet all these requirements, you can fill the form and submit your evidence to IRB. Sometimes, IRB will send an acknowledgement of receipt of the submission. I read somewhere that IRB may accept the request for file review submitted by the claimant provided that the front-end security screening is complete. If FESS is not complete, IRB will advise accordingly, that they cannot process the claim under the file review process due to incomplete FESS.
Therefore, the best course of action will be to ensure first that your FESS is complete. If so, you can fill the form, attach your evidence and submit everything to IRB.
It is ultimately up to IRB to approve this request.
Generally speaking, IRB may initially identify a claim as that it would be possible to be processed under the File Review Process. Upon reviewing all the submission, IRB may indeed be fully satisfied and will accept the claim and send the NOD
without a hearing. However, having reviewed the submission, IRB may decide later that there are 1 or 2 specific points that should be investigated further with the claimant and accordingly will request a
short hearing (that could last for up to a maximum of 1 hour). IRB could end up requesting a
full hearing if the member believes that there are several issues that warrant further investigation..
One more fact: Even if IRB identifies a claim as falling under the File Review Process (Less Complex), this does not automatically warrant that the claim will be processed within 5-6 months. It still can take a long time, a very long time, to process the claim and send the NOD. With the huge backlog (300,000 claims), it may still take +20 months or even more to process the Less Complex cases....
Good Luck!
