Immigration Division (ID)
Statutory definition
The Immigration Division is established under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, SC 2001, c 27, as a division of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Section 44 authorises officers to prepare inadmissibility reports; s 45 provides that reports in certain categories are referred to the Immigration Division for an admissibility hearing. Section 57 provides for mandatory detention reviews by the ID.
Explanation
The Immigration Division (ID) has two main functions:
- Admissibility hearings — the ID conducts a hearing on the inadmissibility report prepared by an officer and either makes a removal order or orders the person released
- Detention reviews — the ID must review the detention of any person held in immigration detention within 48 hours, then at 7 days, and at 30-day intervals thereafter
ID hearings are quasi-judicial. The person subject to the hearing has the right to be represented by counsel, to hear the evidence against them, and to make submissions. The ID member makes the final decision.
How this term is used
Admissibility hearings before the ID are generally required for serious criminality, security, and organised crime inadmissibility — officers can make removal orders directly for less serious matters. Removal orders made by the ID can be appealed to the IAD (with limitations for serious criminality).