Where to claim asylum?

You can claim asylum at the airport with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Canada’s law enforcement agency responsible for border control. Officials will do a security screening, verify your identity, and interview you to decide if your claim can be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), an independent administrative tribunal responsible for making decisions on refugee matters. This interview, called the “eligibility interview”, could be conducted upon arrival at the airport or it could be scheduled at a later date.

If you are coming from the United States and claim asylum at a Canadian official land border post, officials from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will do a security screening, verify your identity, and interview you to decide if your claim can be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), an independent administrative tribunal responsible for making decisions on refugee matters.

You should know that the Canadian Government has put restrictions on who can claim asylum at the land border between Canada and the United States.

Under the Canada–U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), you cannot make a claim at an official Canadian border post unless you qualify for an exception to the Agreement.

List of exceptions

You can claim asylum at an official Canadian land border post if you qualify for one of the following exceptions:

• You are a U.S. citizen.
• You are a stateless person and have lived in the U.S. for a significant period of time.
• You have a valid Canadian visa, a work permit or a study permit.
• You are under 18 and your parents are not in the United States.
• You face the death penalty in your country or the United States.
• You have close family members who are living in Canada.

Check the government’s website to get more details on the full list of exceptions.

Proving your links to family members

One exception of the Canada–U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) is having a close family member in Canada. You must prove your relationship to family members already legally living in Canada.

The STCA recognizes a family member as one of the following:

• spouse,
• legal guardian,
• child,
• father or mother,
• sister or brother,
• grandfather or grandmother,
• grandchild,
• uncle or aunt,
• nephew or niece,
• common-law partner, or same-sex spouse with legal status in Canada.

Before entering Canada:

• Let your family members in Canada know that you are coming.
• Your relatives do not have to be present at the border, but it can be useful if they are able to prove that they are your family members.
• If not present, they will be called and interviewed.

When you enter Canada:

• Show originals or copies of your identity documents, such as your passport, driver’s license, national identity card, birth certificate, or marriage certificate.

If you are in a common-law relationship and your partner is in Canada:

• You must bring proof that you have been living together with your partner for at least one year.
• Proof can include shared ownership of residential property, joint leases, rental agreements, or bills for shared utility accounts (gas, electricity, telephone).

If you claim asylum after crossing the U.S.-Canada border irregularly in-between official land border posts, you will be intercepted by the police and questioned about your entry. You will then be transferred to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Canada’s law enforcement agency responsible for border control. Officials will do a security screening, verify your identity and interview you to decide if your claim can be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), an independent administrative tribunal responsible for making decisions on refugee matters. This interview, called the “eligibility interview”, could be conducted upon arrival at the border or it could be scheduled at a later date.

If you are already in Canada and wish to claim asylum, you will have to create a portal account on the website of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and then submit your asylum claim online.  Officials from IRCC will do a security screening, verify your identity and interview you to decide if your claim can be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), an independent administrative tribunal responsible for making decisions on refugee matters.

Note that a legal representative can help you complete your claim or submit a claim for you.

Find out what to do if you can’t submit your claim online.