IRCC Reconsideration Request
A refusal arrived and something in it looks wrong. Not unfair, wrong. The officer says you did not provide a document you know you provided, or cites a requirement that does not apply to you.
A reconsideration request asks that officer to look again. There is no form and no fee, which makes it sound like the obvious first move. It is not always the right one, and treating it as a free attempt can cost you a remedy that is not free to lose.
Whether reconsideration is the right route depends on what kind of error your refusal contains. That is a legal assessment, and it is the first thing BorderPass does with a refusal, working with licensed Canadian immigration lawyers.
What you need to know
Reconsideration is discretionary. An officer is under no obligation to reopen your file, and most requests do not succeed.
There is no fee and no form, which is exactly why it is over-used on refusals that contain no reviewable error.
It works best against a clear factual or legal error, not against a decision you simply disagree with.
Filing one does not pause any other deadline. Judicial review and restoration clocks keep running while you wait for a reply that may never come.
BorderPass works with licensed immigration lawyers who assess which route your refusal actually calls for before anything is sent.
What is a reconsideration request?
It is a written request asking an officer to reopen and re-decide a refused application. It applies across application types, from visitor visas and study permits to work permits and permanent residence, and it is submitted by correspondence rather than through a formal process.
The absence of a form is the thing to understand about it. There is no fee, no filing procedure, and no entitlement to a response. An officer may reopen the file, may decline, or may never reply at all. Your account status might quietly change without any notification.
That informality cuts both ways. It costs nothing to send, and it carries no weight beyond the strength of the argument in it. A polite request to think again is not an argument. An identified error, evidenced from the existing file, is.
It is also only one of several routes after a refusal. Judicial review, reapplying, and applying under a different programme are the others, and they are not interchangeable.
When does reconsideration actually work?
When the officer got a fact wrong that your existing file already disproves. A document recorded as missing that was submitted. A requirement applied that does not apply to your category. A detail about your circumstances stated incorrectly on the record.
It works far less well as a second attempt. A refusal based on an officer weighing your evidence and finding it insufficient is a judgement call, and reconsideration is not a mechanism for re-weighing judgement calls. Sending new evidence usually points toward a fresh application rather than a request to reopen the old one.
The distinction between those two situations is the whole question, and it is not always obvious from a refusal letter. Refusal letters are brief and the officer's actual reasoning usually sits in notes you do not automatically receive.
Getting this wrong wastes the one thing you cannot recover after a refusal, which is time.
The deadline trap nobody warns you about
This is the part that costs people their case, and it deserves reading twice.
A reconsideration request has no deadline of its own. Every other remedy does, and none of them pause while you wait.
Judicial review must be started within 15 days for a matter arising in Canada or 60 days for one arising outside Canada, under section 72 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Restoration of status, where it applies, has its own limit. Those clocks run from the refusal, not from the day your reconsideration request is answered.
So the common sequence is this. Someone sends a reconsideration request because it is free. They hear nothing, because officers frequently do not acknowledge receipt. They wait a few weeks in good faith. By the time they accept that no reply is coming, the 15 days have gone and judicial review is no longer available.
The free option turned out to cost the remedy with actual teeth. Where more than one route is open, they can often be pursued in parallel rather than in sequence, which is a decision worth making deliberately and quickly.
Where BorderPass fits
After a refusal you have a short window and several routes, and choosing between them requires reading the decision the way a lawyer reads it. What kind of error is this? Is it reviewable? Which remedy fits, and does another deadline need protecting while you pursue it?
BorderPass works with licensed Canadian immigration lawyers. That means an honest assessment of whether your refusal contains something worth challenging, and which route to take if it does, rather than a template letter sent hopefully. You get clear guidance and legal accountability at a fraction of what a traditional firm charges.
If a refusal has arrived, other deadlines are already running. Start with an assessment of where you stand.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a reconsideration request?
A written request asking an IRCC officer to reopen and re-decide a refused application. There is no form and no fee. It is entirely discretionary, meaning the officer decides whether to act on it, and there is no right to a response.
Is there a deadline for a reconsideration request?
Not for the request itself, and that is the danger. Other remedies do have deadlines, and they keep running while you wait. Judicial review must be started within 15 days for a matter arising in Canada or 60 days for one arising outside Canada, regardless of any reconsideration request you have sent.
How likely is a reconsideration request to succeed?
Most do not result in a file being reopened. The requests that work tend to identify a specific factual or legal error the existing file already disproves. Requests that ask an officer to reconsider how they weighed evidence rarely change anything.
Can I send new evidence with a reconsideration request?
New evidence generally points toward a fresh application rather than reconsideration, because reconsideration addresses how the original decision was made on the material that was before the officer. Whether a new application or a reconsideration is the better route depends on your circumstances and is worth confirming with a licensed representative.
Will IRCC confirm they received my request?
Often not. Officers frequently do not acknowledge receipt, and a file can move without any notification being sent. Silence should not be read as the request being under active consideration, and it is not a reason to let another deadline pass.
