Before you travel (everybody should read this!)

This page contains the following information:

1. Vaccination and quarantine rules
2. Keeping warm in spring, autumn and winter
3. Preparing to explain your asylum case
4. If you have already applied for asylum in the US
5. Help in New York State
6. Beware of trafficking operations and people charging a lot of money to take you to Canada
   
7. UN Refugee Agency information sheets
   

1. Vaccination, testing and quarantine
Asylum seekers who enter Canada do not need to be vaccinated or have a negative Covid test. But:

• If  you do NOT have proof of double vaccination or have not been fully vaccinated, you will have to quarantine for 14 days.
• Proof of vaccination must be in English or French OR
• A certified translation in English or French must accompany vaccination proofs in other languages.

Regardless of your vaccination status, you will have to take a COVID test after you enter Canada.  If you test positive you will have to quarantine.  Health officials will guide this process.

2. Dress warmly for the Canadian winter and cold weather in autumn and spring!
Equip yourself and your family with winter coats and boots, hats, scarves, mittens and long underwear. Temperatures can be as low as -30 C or even lower in winter.

3. Be Prepared to explain truthfully why you are seeking asylum
This is very important.

• Why are you afraid to return to your country of origin?
  
• Have you been persecuted, threatened, tortured, imprisoned or hurt etc.?
• Are you in danger there because of your race, religion, nationality, political views, gender or sexual orientation?

Bring any reports, media articles, documents, photos or other proofs you have to support your refugee claim. If you cannot pay for a lawyer, you are very likely to qualify for legal aid in Canada to pay for a refugee lawyer.

4. Have you already made an asylum claim in the United States?

• If you have applied for asylum in the US or any of the other ‘Five Eye’ countries (United Kingdom, New Zealand & Australia), you may no longer be entitled to the full independent refugee process in Canada. Instead you only have access to a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) hearing conducted by a government official. You will be able to have a lawyer present with you. The PRRA is a less thorough process and has a lower success rate (about 44%) than the refugee process. However, if you are successful you will be recognized as either a refugee or a protected person in Canada.
  
• You are strongly advised to consult a Canadian refugee lawyer before entering Canada.  You can contact Romero House in Toronto to get the name of a lawyer:  416.763.1303 / info@romerohouse.org
  
• Note: Immigration officers in Canada will determine whether or not you are eligible for the full refugee process by examining bio-metric data (fingerprints and photos) shared among the Five Eye countries. Some asylum seekers, who have submitted claims in one of these countries, have been found eligible in Canada. This suggests that bio-metric sharing is not always consistent. However, if you have submitted an asylum claim or have provided bio-metric information in relation to any other request for protection, it is possible you may be restricted to the PRRA process.

5.  Help in the United States (New York State)

• Plattsburgh Cares gives information and support to people wanting to leave the US to seek asylum in Canada: support@plattsburghcares.org
  
• Emergency Shelter (24-48 hours): contact Diane Noiseux of the Office for New Americans in Plattsburgh at 518-420-7210 .
• Free legal advice: NYS Office of New Americans Immigration Hotline: 1-800-566-7636 (many languages)

6. If someone suggests you should pay a lot of money to cross into Canada, it is not advisable.
Please stop and think about the risks.
In January 2022, a family of four froze to death while trying to cross the border with the ''help'' of traffickers. A woman died near the Manitoba border in 2017. Other people have suffered severe frostbite and lost fingers and toes. People engaged in trafficking may not care about your safety. Crossing at Roxham Road is a known and safe option for you.

7. Information sheets for asylum seekers:
The United Nations Refugee Agency in Canada has prepared 9 one-page information sheets for people who want to apply for asylum. You can go to the page UNHCR Info Sheets on this website (also in ARABIC and KREYOL), or go to their updated page on making a refugee claim: https://www.unhcr.ca/in-canada/making-refugee-claim/.