Introduction:
Although travelling is the legitimate right of every individuals but when you submit asylum seeking application in Canada you will have to renouce this right for some times.
On the bases of Canada migration laws an individual cannot move out of canada untill the relevant authority provide him/her the permission.
The asylum seekign process has some stages and the first stage is ‘Refugee Claimant’ statuse then ‘Conventional Refugee’ or ‘Protected peson’ then ‘Confirmation of PR’ than ‘Parmanent Resident’ or ‘Citizen’ stage.
In the first stage the govenrment of canada may not allow you go leave the country except from emergancy situation but in other stages the govenrment of Canad grant an asylum seeker temorory travelling documents which are acceptable in every part of the country. Here the state of travel documents, condtion and complete process of obtaining these documents will be explained.
What are Travel Documents?
When an asylum seeker is in the ‘Conventional Refugee’, ‘Protected Person’, or ‘Confirmation of Permanent Resident’ status then an individual could obtained travelling documents from the Canada Passport Department. These documents would enable you to travel outside Canada and return; these documents are acceptable in every part of the world. During this stage you could not travel to the country of you original nationality or to the country where you are being chased. These documents are for specific interval of time and one should make sure to return before the expiry of its date.
In order to get these documents you need to fill an online application and provide some other necessary documents which will be explained later but having the following documents during filling the application was must.
1- You need to get a letter from the Immigration and Refugee Board and attached it with your application form
2- You need to attach the Confirmation of permanent Resident CoPR document. This is a letter which made you eligible for the permanent residence.
3- If you don’t have the CoPR then you can attach Verification of Status document with your application. This is awarded to you on the bases of Protected Person or Conventional Refugee status
These documents are also called Refugee Travel Documents as well. We need to remember some points in this regard. You travel outside Canada on the bases of these documents, when you return you need to have the RTD and Protected Person documents with yourself. You must make sure to return to Canada before the time of your document expires. If you lose your travel document outside Canada then the relevant officer will ask questions in this regard and in case he agreed he would allow you to return to Canada.
Types of travel documents:
Individuals who have Canadian citizenship they can obtain Canadian passport or travel documents but individuals who are not yet Canadian citizen they could also obtain two types of travel documents.
Refugee Travel Document:
Individuals who are not yet the citizens of Canada could obtained these documents or who did not got the PR Card, these individuals could travel outside Canada.
In order to get these documents you need to be in the Conventional Refuge or Protected Person status. The validity these documents are set by the relevant Canadian authority.
Certificate of identity:
This document is for individuals who don’t not have Canadian citizenship but have the Permanent Citizenship Card (PR-Card). This document is for individuals who have no citizenship and could not obtain his country’s passport on the bases of a creditable reason. Countries not suitable for travel:
As we mentioned before that these travel documents are eligible in every part of the country but there are some countries where an individual could not travel with RTD documents. They are.
- Country of origin, because you could be eligible for Canada
When you are facing problems — death threat, torture or any other threats — in your country of origin, therefore, asylum seeker is not permitted to travel to the country of origin.
2- You cannot travel to the country where you feel insecure or being threatened, when you for the first time arrive in Canada you are asked that if you feel insecure in another country. If you mentioned any other country apart from your own country then you are not allowed to travel there as well.
Which countries you can travel:
Apart from above countries RTD documents are eligible in every country. You can travel to every country in the world on the bases of these documents but it was your responsibility to contact the relevant country and get visa because RTD documents required visa even of the countries with which Canada have no visa regime policy.
Eligible individuals for these documents:
When you registered as a refugee in Canada this process then has different stages and in every stage you get new status. We explain these stages below that in which status you have the permission to get refugee status and in which stage you don’t have.
1- Refugee Claimant
When for the first time you register as refugee, then the Canadian government recognise you as asylum seeker. In this situation you case would be sent to the IRB department for decision making. You don’t have the right to go outside Canada in this stage.
2- Verification of Status (VoS)
When decision is made about you then the Canadian government would grant you the Protected Person or Conventional Refugee document. In this stage you have the VoS document but there you are yet to become permanent citizen. During this stage you can get travel documents and go outside Canada.
3- Confirmation of Permanent Residence:
When you get this document then you are eligible for the permanent citizenship of Canada but registration and obtaining this card would take time and you can travel outside Canada with RTD documents.
4- Permanent Resident
When you obtain permanent resident card then you don’t need to get RTD documents for traveling because now you have PR Card and could travel to every country, This card, however, did not work for passport then you need certificate of identity for travelling which is provided by the Canadian government to individuals who have the permanent resident card.
5 Citizenship
After obtaining permanent citizenship card when you spent particular time in Canada then you will be eligible for the citizenship and you will be awarded. Then you can get Canadian passport and without any restriction make trips.
When this trip can be hazardous?
Canada government approve the assylum application of individuals who face death, torture and other issues in their country or origion and its govenrment failed to ensure his/her security.
Individuals who are in convential or Protected Person status the following condition may threaten his asylum application.
- Travel to the country or origin
- When ask for passport renewal or extension
- When registar for obtaining new passport from the country of origion
In these three condtion the canadian govenrment could streped the asylum seeker from the status of citizenship.
How to get travel documents?
- Three types of forms are available for the renewal of documents and they are
- PPTC 190 Application: This form is for individuals who are older than 16.
- PPTC 192 Application: This form is for children below the age of 16
- PPTC 203 Declaration: this form is for individuals who lost their previous travel documents
First of all one should fill one of these applications form and then go ahead with the remaining steps
- Bring together all your documents with this application letter following are the supporting documents for this application
- Attach document that can approve you immigration status
- Attach document that can help in your recognition and this could be one of the below documents
– Attach original document or recognition or
– Attach documents signed by your guarantor
- Your former passport or travel documents named after you
- Two passport size photographs, the follow specifications should be written on one these photographs
– Work address and time and date on which photo is taken
– Your guarantor should sign these documents and approve similarity between your name and photograph
3- All your documents should be on French or English language if they are on other languages then translate them through formal channels
4- You need to show two people as reference and one person as guarantor. Conditions for guarantor and reference person are as below and he or she should sign the following documents
– Must sign your application
– Must sign on the back of your photograph
– Must sign on all you identification documents
- Two persons are needed to be introduced as references
5- Submit the application fee. The amount of fee is linked with the type of application and its period therefore the amount of fee is related to the nature of application.
6- Send your application and for this purpose you can only use courier or e-mail. There is no in-person submitting service.
7- There is no specific period for obtaining travel documents so one may wait for months. Because sometimes the number of applicants is high and usually it takes months to get travel documents.
Guarantor criteria:
You need one guarantor for obtaining travel documents and this person should not be from your family members and have the following criteria
- Should live in Canada
- Should be Canadian citizen or permanent resident
- Should be reachable to approve you application
- Should know you for at least six months
- Should have a profession or job
- Registered with regional authorities
- And should work in the same place at the moment
If you cannot find any person meeting the above criteria then you have an option and it is:
- Fill the Statutory Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor form
- Find an individual who take oath from you and sign you documents. In this case it is not necessary that this person should know you.
Two person as reference
You can introduce two persons as reference in your application and these people should meet the following criteria
- Should 18 year or above
- Should know you for at least six months
- They should agree when you intorudced them as reference in you application
Note: When you application is delayed most of the time individuals in your references are not reachable because relevant authorities contact them so in order to avoid this delay you should make sure that individuals in your reference are reachable and if relevant authorities contact them they can replay on time.
Outcome:
Refugee documents in Canada are called Refugee Travel Document (RTD) and this document is awarded to individuals whose migration had been approved in Canada and achieved refugee status. This document is passport worthy during travelling and an individual can travel any part of the world having visa. Holder of this document could not travel to the country of origin or to a country where he faced threat to his life. If the holder of RTD document travel to the country of his origin than his migration status may be faced with danger and there is the possibility that Canadian government may withdraw his refugee status.
Individuals who have Convential Refugee or Protected Persons condtion or have Confirmation of Parmanent Resident, they are elegibale to apply for the RTD. But individuals having the PR Card should demand for the certificate of identy if they want to travel out of Canada.
Besides providnng garantor and two refenrances, individuals willing to get RTD must provide all the documents mentioned and explianed above.
Referances:
- Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Refugee Travel Document. Retrieved from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/travel.asp
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Protected persons and refugee travel documents. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/claim-protection-inside-canada/after-apply/refugee-travel-document.html
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Refugee Travel Document: Application guide. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5529-refugee-travel-document-application.html
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Types of travel documents for Canadian permanent residents. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-passports/travel-documents-permanent-residents/types-travel-documents-permanent-residents.html
- Liew, J. (2019). The Refugee Travel Document: A Travel Document for Convention Refugees in Canada. Journal of Immigration, Asylum, and Nationality Law, 33(2), 172-190.
- Orbach, M. (2018). Flight without a Passport: The Right to Travel and the Refugee Travel Document. Columbia Human Rights Law Review, 50(3), 687-723.
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