Changes to the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment for Brunei

Ottawa, June 13, 2019—Individuals from Brunei may now be eligible to apply for a pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) if they received a final decision from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) or a final PRRA decision on or between June 14, 2018, and June 13, 2019. Before removing them from Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency will advise eligible individuals from Brunei that they can apply for a PRRA.

Normally, those whose refugee claim or previous application for a PRRA was rejected, abandoned or withdrawn are not eligible to apply for a PRRA for at least 12 months.

Individuals from Brunei who receive a final IRB or PRRA decision after June 13, 2019, are not eligible to apply for a PRRA for 12 months. Any recent changes in country conditions will have been considered when the refugee claim was decided or during the PRRA process.

However, the country’s worsening conditions could put individuals in a risk situation, in which case they may warrant an additional assessment. For this reason, some individuals from Brunei are now exempt from the 12-month bar on applying for a PRRA depending on when they received a decision on their refugee claim.

It is important to note that the eligibility to apply for a PRRA does not guarantee its outcome. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) officers will continue to decide on each case individually, based on the information provided.

Individuals are responsible for keeping their PRRA application up-to-date and informing IRCC of any changes to their application, so that decision-makers have all the information an individual wants considered in their application.

In considering which countries to exempt, IRCC considers any recent event in a country that could place all or some of its individuals in a risk situation similar to those defined in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (section 96—definition of a “Convention Refugee” and section 97—definition of a “person in need of protection”).