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Lexaltico LLP represents individuals found inadmissible to Canada on criminal, medical, security, or financial grounds. We obtain Temporary Resident Permits, prepare criminal rehabilitation applications, and advocate in inadmissibility hearings before the Immigration Division.
Book My Consultation →Inadmissibility & Overcoming Barriers to Entry
A person may be inadmissible on several grounds under IRPA, including criminal convictions (section 36), security concerns (section 34), human rights violations (section 35), organized crime (section 37), medical conditions (section 38), financial inability (section 39), misrepresentation (section 40), and non-compliance with immigration law (section 41). Each ground has specific criteria and thresholds.
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The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act establishes several grounds on which a foreign national or permanent resident may be found inadmissible to Canada. These are set out in sections 34 through 42 of IRPA and include: security grounds (section 34), espionage, subversion, terrorism, and membership in organizations engaged in such activities; human or international rights violations (section 35); serious criminality and criminality (section 36); organized criminality (section 37); health grounds (section 38), conditions that pose a danger to public health or safety, or that might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health or social services; financial reasons (section 39), inability or unwillingness to support oneself; misrepresentation (section 40); and non-compliance with IRPA (section 41).
At Lexaltico LLP, our inadmissibility lawyers handle all grounds of inadmissibility. Criminal inadmissibility under section 36 is the most common, arising from convictions or charges in Canada or abroad that correspond to offences under Canadian law. The analysis requires an equivalency assessment, comparing the foreign offence to its Canadian counterpart to determine whether it constitutes an indictable offence, a hybrid offence, or a summary conviction offence. The classification determines the severity of the inadmissibility finding and the available remedies. Our lawyers conduct thorough equivalency analyses, often engaging foreign law lawyers to assist in cases involving complex foreign legal systems.
A Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) under section 24 of IRPA allows an inadmissible foreign national to enter or remain in Canada when there are compelling reasons that justify the entry despite the inadmissibility. TRPs are discretionary. There is no right to a TRP, and the decision-maker must be satisfied that the reasons for entry outweigh the risks posed by the inadmissibility. TRPs can be issued for single or multiple entries and for periods of up to three years, after which they must be renewed. A person who holds a valid TRP for three consecutive years may apply to become a permanent resident if all other conditions are met.
Our firm prepares comprehensive TRP applications that clearly articulate the compelling reasons for entry (such as business obligations, family emergencies, medical treatment, or employment), demonstrate that the applicant poses minimal risk to Canadian society, and include evidence of rehabilitation and changed circumstances since the events giving rise to the inadmissibility. We also address procedural considerations, including whether to apply at a port of entry or at a visa office, and how to present the application to maximize the likelihood of a favourable exercise of discretion.
Criminal rehabilitation under subsection 36(3)(c) of IRPA provides a permanent solution to criminal inadmissibility. An individual may apply for rehabilitation if at least five years have passed since the completion of the sentence imposed for the offence (including any probation, fines, or other conditions). The application must demonstrate that the applicant has been rehabilitated and is no longer likely to engage in criminal activity. Factors considered include the nature and severity of the offence, the passage of time, evidence of reformed behaviour, employment history, community involvement, and character references. If approved, the individual is no longer inadmissible on the basis of the offence for which rehabilitation was granted.
For individuals who committed an offence that would be punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of less than ten years under Canadian law, and where at least ten years have passed since the completion of the sentence, they may be deemed rehabilitated by operation of law under paragraph 36(3)(c) without requiring a formal application. Our lawyers assess whether deemed rehabilitation applies and advise on the documentation needed to demonstrate eligibility at the port of entry or in a visa application. We also handle complex cases involving multiple offences, foreign pardons and record suspensions, and cases where the equivalency analysis is contested. For medical inadmissibility, we assist with individualized excessive demand assessments and mitigation plans under the amended section 38 framework.
Mîra v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 603 In this Federal Court judicial review, Jia Junaid of Lexaltico LLP successfully challenged the Refugee Appeal Division’s decision to exclude the applicants from refugee protection under Article 1F(b) of the Refugee Convention.
Justice McHaffie found the RAD’s decision unreasonable on two grounds: the RAD improperly excluded new evidence about corruption within Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), and the RAD’s exclusion analysis relied on foreign convictions without meaningfully grappling with the applicants’ credible evidence that the charges were politically fabricated.
The application for judicial review was allowed. The Federal Court set aside the decision and remitted the appeal to a differently constituted panel, which is the relief sought on judicial review: the exclusion finding no longer stands and the appeal is heard afresh.
Article 1F(b) exclusions are hard to displace, and harder still where the conviction comes from a European Union member state with a functioning court system. The argument required persuading the Court that evidence of corruption inside the prosecuting authority was relevant and had been wrongly shut out, and that a conviction from such a state could not simply be taken at face value.
What made the exclusion unusual. The Minister raised Article 1F(b) in 2020 and then withdrew that intervention in October 2023 after reviewing the evidence. The Refugee Protection Division found our client generally credible and not excluded. The Refugee Appeal Division then raised exclusion on its own motion and excluded her, without the Minister intervening. The finding under review was one the Minister had already abandoned.
On the exclusion itself, the Division reasoned that a conviction from Romania could be relied on because it is a country where the rule of law prevails, citing Arevalo Pineda for that proposition but not the passages of the same decision requiring an objective assessment of the claimant’s own evidence and satisfaction that the issuing authority itself respects the rule of law. The Court held that reliance on authority stripped of its qualifying context does not meet the standard, and observed that no assessment of the issuing authority was ever carried out. Read the full decision on CanLII.
This result demonstrates Lexaltico’s commitment to thorough preparation, evidence-driven advocacy, and holding administrative decision-makers to the standard of reasonableness the law requires.
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Lexaltico LLP
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