Section 1 – Refugee Claim Process
Before you start.
If you need someone to help you understand the process contact the VRSA staff. Tel: 778 328 8888.
Suite430 – 411 Dunsmuir Street, downtown at the corner with Homer Street.
Who is a refugee?
- Somebody who can’t return to his or her country of origin because of fear of persecution or human rights violations
- Somebody who needs protection
What you need to start a refugee claim in Canada:
You need to show WHO you are and WHY you are asking for protection.
WHO? –
You must have at least one original identity documents (I.D.) from your country of origin.
For example: Passport or travel document, birth certificate, marriage certificate, school records, national I.D. cards, voter registration card. If you don’t have any of these with you, ask somebody in your home country to send you one.
Immigration officials will keep the originals of your documents and provide you with copies
WHY? –
Some reasons include:
- Some kind of persecution
- Government in your country cannot or will not protect you
- There’s no safety in another area of your own country.
IMPORTANT – You must declare even false documents that were used to travel or to enter Canada.
For further details see a VRSA counsellor or consult the Legal Services Society document “Starting A Refugee Claim” (pdf link Immigrat – Spanish Immigrat – Chinese) or see the LSS website: www.lss.bc.ca
*See the Glossary page under Other Sections for acronyms & abbreviations.
