Judicial review of a citizenship decision: Time period to apply

If an applicant applies for leave after the 30-day period, the Litigation Management Unit (BCL) will request a copy of the delivery manifest, indicating the date that the refusal letter was sent to the applicant.

The Department of Justice will attempt to have the application for leave struck by the Federal Court, who will determine if the application for leave was filed within the allowable 30-day time limit. The BCL will advise the local Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) office of the Federal Court decision.

An application for leave must be filed with the Federal Court within 30 days after the day on which the Minister is notified or otherwise becomes aware of the citizenship judge's decision to approve the application.

Therefore, to ensure that the application for leave is filed in the allotted timeframe, the local CIC office must forward the relevant documents from the citizenship file in support of their recommendation to the BCL immediately after the citizenship judge's decision is taken.

The 30-day breakdown is as follows:

• no more than 10 days for the citizenship officer to submit the recommendation for an application for leave to the BCL;
• no more than 10 days for the BCL to take a decision on whether or not to seek judicial review;
• no more than 10 days for the Department of Justice to file and serve the application for leave.

The timeframe to produce and deliver the certified tribunal record is 20 days from the date the Court grants leave.