Volunteer to have your refugee claim scheduled on short notice

The Refugee Protection Division (RPD) occasionally has hearing slots that become available on short notice. If you have a claim that is ready to be heard, you can volunteer the claim to be added to the RPD's short-notice hearings list.

Normally, refugee claims are scheduled 2 to 4 months in advance. Generally, older claims are scheduled and heard before more recent claims. Sometimes, though, hearing slots become available only a few weeks before they are scheduled to proceed. This may happen because another hearing has been postponed, for example. To provide access to justice to as many claimants as possible, the RPD keeps a list of claims where the parties are ready and willing to proceed on short notice.

As long as all the documents for your claim have been submitted, any claimant or counsel may volunteer to identify a claim for a short-notice hearing. To do so, simply contact the RPD via the My Case Portal or by email, and provide your case number. The RPD will review the request to see if it can be scheduled on short notice. If so, the RPD will contact all parties when a timeslot becomes available.