Leaving Canada or overstaying: what removal orders really mean

Many posts on social media about overstaying in Canada mix correct and wrong information. Here is what the official rules say.

There are three types of removal order. A departure order requires you to leave Canada within 30 days after it becomes enforceable and to confirm your departure with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). If you do this, you can later apply to come back without special permission.

If you do not leave within those 30 days, or you leave without confirming your departure with CBSA, the departure order automatically becomes a deportation order.

An exclusion order bars you from returning for one year without written permission (an Authorization to Return to Canada). If the order was issued for misrepresentation, the bar is five years.

A deportation order bars you from returning to Canada permanently unless you get an Authorization to Return to Canada. If the government paid for your removal, you must also repay that cost before you can come back.

Giving false or misleading information on an immigration application (misrepresentation) makes you inadmissible to Canada for five years.

If your temporary status expired less than 90 days ago, you may be able to apply to restore it. Do not wait: after 90 days this option is gone.

If you applied to extend your permit before it expired, you can usually keep working or studying under the same conditions while you wait (maintained status). If you leave Canada during that time, you lose maintained status and cannot resume work or study on return until the new permit is approved.

Some people, such as permanent residents and protected persons, can appeal a removal order to the Immigration Appeal Division, usually within 30 days. Others may only be able to ask the Federal Court to review the decision, with shorter deadlines.

A sponsor who signed an undertaking must repay any social assistance the sponsored person receives during the undertaking period. A sponsor in default cannot sponsor anyone else until the debt is repaid.