Before you travel (everybody should read this!)
VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE
Since March 25th, all persons who seek asylum ANYWHERE along the Canada-US border must qualify for an exception to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) in order to enter Canada to make a refugee claim. Go to this PAGE to find out if you qualify for an exception.
Since March 25th, all persons who seek asylum ANYWHERE along the Canada-US border must qualify for an exception to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) in order to enter Canada to make a refugee claim. Go to this PAGE to find out if you qualify for an exception.
This page contains the following information:
- Beware of trafficking operations and people charging a lot of money to take you to Canada
- Vaccination and quarantine rules
- Keeping warm in spring, autumn and winter
- Keep your identity documents with you!
- Preparing to explain your asylum case
- If you have already applied for asylum in the US
- Help in New York State
- UN Refugee Agency information sheets
1. If a trafficker, a smuggler or a 'friend' suggests you should pay them money to cross secretly into Canada, it is not a good idea!
Please stop and think about the risks.
In 2022 at least 6 people are known to have died of hypothermia, while trying to cross the US-Canada border clandestinely. In March 2023, eight people – including two small children - drowned while being taken by a smuggler across the border. Over the years, other people have suffered severe frostbite and lost fingers and toes. People engaged in trafficking do NOT care about your safety. If you qualify for an exception to the STCA you can enter at any official port of entry. Read essential information on the STCA page in order to know if you qualify and how to prove it and where to get help.
Please stop and think about the risks.
In 2022 at least 6 people are known to have died of hypothermia, while trying to cross the US-Canada border clandestinely. In March 2023, eight people – including two small children - drowned while being taken by a smuggler across the border. Over the years, other people have suffered severe frostbite and lost fingers and toes. People engaged in trafficking do NOT care about your safety. If you qualify for an exception to the STCA you can enter at any official port of entry. Read essential information on the STCA page in order to know if you qualify and how to prove it and where to get help.
2. Vaccination, testing and quarantine
- Asylum seekers who enter Canada do not need to be vaccinated or have a negative Covid test.
- 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.
3. 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.
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.
4 . Keep your identity documents with you!
Do NOT throw away or destroy your Identity papers (passport, national ID, drivers license, birth certificate). Keep your documents even if they are expired.
If you qualify to enter Canada under the rules of the STCA , you must have credible ID documents in order to make a refugee claim and access the One Touch process at Canadian Immigration Lacolle (CBSA). With One Touch, you will leave Lacolle with your refugee claim documents and work permit application started. You will need an email address for the One Touch process. People who do not qualify for One Touch face long delays in obtaining their documents and work permit.
If you have no ID documents you are at higher risk of being detained.
Do NOT throw away or destroy your Identity papers (passport, national ID, drivers license, birth certificate). Keep your documents even if they are expired.
If you qualify to enter Canada under the rules of the STCA , you must have credible ID documents in order to make a refugee claim and access the One Touch process at Canadian Immigration Lacolle (CBSA). With One Touch, you will leave Lacolle with your refugee claim documents and work permit application started. You will need an email address for the One Touch process. People who do not qualify for One Touch face long delays in obtaining their documents and work permit.
If you have no ID documents you are at higher risk of being detained.
5. Be prepared to explain truthfully why you are seeking asylum
This is very important.
This is very important.
- Why are you afraid to return to your country of origin?
- Have you been persecuted, threatened, wrongly imprisoned or hurt etc.?
- Are you in danger there because of your race, religion, nationality, political views, sex, gender, sexual orientation or family ties?
- Are you at risk of torture or is there a risk to your life or of cruel and inhumane treatment?
6. 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 much lower success rate 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 FCJ Refugee House in Toronto to get the name of a lawyer: info@fcjrefugeecentre.org or 416-469-9754 or WhatsApp +1 416-437-217-3786
- 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.
7. Help in the United States (New York State)
- Plattsburgh Cares provides some support to asylum seekers in Plattsburgh: 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)
8. 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/.
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/.