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Visitor visa refusal — what to do next — document checklist
Prepared by CHK Immigration Services Inc.
Visitor visa refusal — what to do next — document checklist
The deadline is the thing. There is no appeal from a visitor visa refusal — only judicial review in the Federal Court, and it must be filed within 15 days if the matter arose in Canada or 60 days if it arose outside. A judge can extend that for special reasons, but only on a motion you have to bring. Everything else on this page comes second.
9 documents 8 that decide it Cost Free · $50 if you go to the Federal Court
Preserve the clock
How long do you actually have?Where files fail here: Assembling evidence for weeks while the judicial review limit quietly expires.
You have 15 days, or 60. Work out which, today
Judicial review must be filed within 15 days where the matter arose in Canada and 60 days where it arose outside. The clock runs from when you were notified or otherwise became aware — not from the day you found a consultant. Where the characterisation is arguable, diarise the shorter one.
Know that there is no appeal
The Immigration Appeal Division has no jurisdiction over temporary resident refusals — the Act lists what may be appealed and visitor visas are not on it. The only court route is judicial review, and it needs the Court’s leave first.
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 officer’s decision note
Since 29 July 2025 IRCC releases the officer’s note with the refusal for temporary resident applications. This is where the real reasoning is. The tick-boxes on the letter are boilerplate and tell you almost nothing.
Request your GCMS notes — free, and in your own name
Use the Privacy Act, not the Access to Information Act. Since 13 July 2022 anyone outside Canada can request their own personal information directly: no fee, no Canadian friend or consultant filing on your behalf. Thirty days, extendable.
Do not wait for the notes before filing
Thirty days of processing cannot beat a fifteen-day limit and rarely beats sixty. If the decision note shows an error, file the application first — there are thirty further days to perfect the record once the reasons arrive.
Say you have not received the reasons
IRCC’s own instruction: state in the application that you have not received the reasons for refusal, even if you received a decision note. That is what triggers the Court’s request for the complete reasons and reveals whether anything was redacted.
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.
Classify the refusal into one of four
Something was missing, something on file was missed, the decision was unreasonable or unfair, or the officer was right. Everything downstream follows from this, and it is the step most often skipped.
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.
Reapplying is free of any waiting period — and usually pointless
You may apply again at any time unless the letter says otherwise. But IRCC states it plainly: applying again with the same information, even through a representative, will likely not change the decision. Something has to have actually changed.
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.
Answer the ground that was cited
A purpose-of-visit or will-you-leave finding is not cured by a bigger bank balance. Match the evidence to the reason given — employment, property, dependants, a leave-approval letter with a return date.
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/visitor-refusal
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.