Regulation 15 — Validity of application
Text of provision
For the purpose of determining whether a foreign national or permanent resident is inadmissible under paragraph 35(1)(a) of the Act, if any of the following decisions or the following determination has been rendered, the findings of fact set out in that decision or determination shall be considered as conclusive findings of fact:
(a) a decision concerning the foreign national or permanent resident that is made by any international criminal tribunal that is established by resolution of the Security Council of the United Nations, or the International Criminal Court as defined in the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act;
(b) a determination by the Board, based on findings that the foreign national or permanent resident has committed a war crime or a crime against humanity, that the foreign national or permanent resident is a person referred to in section F of Article 1 of the Refugee Convention; or
(c) a decision by a Canadian court under the Criminal Code or the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act concerning the foreign national or permanent resident and a war crime or crime against humanity committed outside Canada.
Plain English
Regulation 15 provides that an application is not validly made unless it is complete within the meaning of r 10. A returned application (for incompleteness) is not considered to have been submitted. The date of submission is the date on which the complete application is received by IRCC.
For applications where timing matters (e.g., in-Canada extensions), the submission date determines whether maintained status is preserved.
Practical effect
The date of a valid application determines the effective start of "maintained status" for in-Canada applicants. Applicants who submit incomplete applications and have them returned may lose maintained status if they cannot refile before their permit expires. Electronic filing timestamps are generally reliable evidence of the submission date. Disputes about whether an application was complete — and thus validly filed — can affect the person's status in Canada.