How much money someone can receive depends on whether they have started an appeal process of the IRB’s initial rejection. They are eligible for the full $2,000 if they apply before going to the federal court for a review of the decision, $1,500 if they apply before asking for a pre-removal risk assessment, and $1,000 if they have already made that application and received a decision.
OTTAWA – The Harper Conservative government is offering to pay some failed refugee claimants to leave the country and will pick up the tab for their plane ticket to speed up their departures, reports CBC news.
A new pilot project, run by the Canada Border Services Agency and the International Organization for Migration, was launched last week in the Greater Toronto Area. The IOM has been operating similar projects all over the world for more than 30 years.
The Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration is for refugee claimants whose applications have been rejected and whose appeals have failed. It’s up to the CBSA to enforce their removal, but the federal government is now providing an incentive for them to leave on their own.
Those who qualify can get a plane ticket back to their country of origin and up to $2,000. The money, however, is to be used to help the rejected claimant find a job, set up a business or go back to school.
“A voluntary return offers you a way to return home with support, dignity and anonymity,” the CBSA’s website says in its description of the new program.
How much money someone can receive depends on whether they have started an appeal process of the IRB’s initial rejection. They are eligible for the full $2,000 if they apply before going to the federal court for a review of the decision, $1,500 if they apply before asking for a pre-removal risk assessment, and $1,000 if they have already made that application and received a decision.
Pre-removal risk assessments can be done when a rejected refugee claimant has been ordered to leave. It is an attempt to prove that the applicant would be in danger and at risk of torture or persecution if the removal order was enforced.
The new program is offering an added incentive to help get it off the ground — until July 13, applicants can be eligible for the full $2,000 even if they have filed appeals.
CBSA has placed limits on who can apply for the program. Rejected claimants with a criminal record, for example, can’t take part.
