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Reconsideration request — when it is worth it — document checklist
Prepared by CHK Immigration Services Inc.
Reconsideration request — when it is worth it — document checklist
Reconsideration does not pause anything. It is discretionary, has no form, no fee and no service standard, and IRCC limits it to exceptional cases — disagreement with the decision expressly does not qualify. The judicial review clock keeps running while you wait for an answer, which is how 15-day limits die. Calendar the limit first.
8 documents 7 that decide it Cost No fee
Preserve the clock
How long do you actually have?Where files fail here: Assembling evidence for weeks while the judicial review limit quietly expires.
Asking for reconsideration does not stop the clock
This is the single most expensive mistake on this page. The judicial review limit runs from notification, and nothing in IRCC’s discretionary internal practice can alter a statutory limit. Send a request and wait for an answer and a 15-day limit is gone almost immediately.
Calendar the limit first, then write the request
Reconsideration is the second thing you do, never the first. Where the case is strong enough, file a protective application at the Federal Court and run both in parallel.
There is no form, no fee and no service standard
It is discretionary. IRCC has published guidance but not a process — requests go through the general web form, which is itself a signal about how they are triaged.
Recover the real reasons
What did the officer actually think?Where files fail here: Working from the tick-boxes on the refusal letter, which say almost nothing.
Read the decision note and the GCMS notes
Reconsideration is realistic only where the record shows the officer missed or misread something concrete. Since automatic decision notes began — July 2025 for temporary residence, May 2026 for permanent residence — it is possible to identify that within days rather than months, which is new.
Diagnose the defect
Was something missing, missed, or wrongly decided?Where files fail here: Skipping straight to “reapply” without knowing which of the four it was.
Identify one specific, checkable error
A document that was on file and not addressed. A misread date. An arithmetic mistake on funds. Narrow, factual, and demonstrable from the record.
Test it against IRCC’s own bar
Reconsideration is for exceptional cases, and IRCC says in terms that dissatisfaction or disagreement with the decision does not by itself qualify. If the request reads as re-argument about weight, it has already failed.
Choose the route
Reapply, reconsider, review, or fix the facts first?Where files fail here: Picking the route by habit rather than by what the diagnosis supports.
Compare it honestly against simply reapplying
There is no waiting period to reapply, and a reapplication that fixes the actual gap is often faster and likelier to succeed than a discretionary request with no service standard.
Answer the ground actually cited
Does the response meet the reason given?Where files fail here: More bank statements against a refusal that was never about money.
The strongest case is evidence already before the officer
Evidence that was on file and demonstrably not considered. Brand new evidence is usually an argument for a fresh application, not for reopening this one.
General information, not legal advice. This checklist is prepared by CHK Immigration Services Inc. and was checked against the Government of Canada’s published requirements on the date shown. Requirements change and vary by case, and IRCC generates a personalised document list for many applications — where that list or canada.ca differs from this document, they govern.
Lead times are planning estimates, not guarantees. Police certificates and credential assessments in particular vary widely by country and provider. IRCC makes all final decisions.
CHK Immigration Services Inc. is an immigration consultancy with offices in Brampton and London, Ontario. Our consultants are regulated by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). Nothing in this document creates a client–consultant relationship.
Current version: https://chkimmigration.ca/checklists/reconsideration
Checked against the official IRCC page for this application in September 2026. Where that page disagrees with anything here, it wins. General information, not legal advice. Lead times are planning estimates, not guarantees — police certificates and credential assessments in particular vary widely by country and provider. IRCC also generates a personalised checklist for many applications, and that list governs. IRCC makes all final decisions.
Having the documents is not the same as having a persuasive file.
Every item above can be present and correct and the application can still be refused — on intent, on a date that does not reconcile, or on a lead time that ran out. A licensed consultant reads it the way an officer will.
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CHK Immigration Services — Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (CICC). Offices in Brampton and London, Ontario. Submitting this form does not create a client–consultant relationship; IRCC makes all final decisions.