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The Federal Court is Canada's national trial court which hears and decides legal disputes arising in the federal domain. The Court is based in Ottawa, and its members travel throughout Canada to hear cases within its national jurisdiction, thereby providing convenient access to justice to all Canadians.

 
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Consolidated Practice Guidelines for Citizenship, Immigration, and Refugee Protection Proceedings

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Consolidated Practice Guidelines for Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection Proceedings

June 26, 2026

The Federal Court has updated its Consolidated Practice Guidelines for Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection Proceedings, with amendments to paragraphs 4, 43-45 and Annex C.

Effective June 26, 2026, a Special Order extends the deadline to file an Applicant’s Record from 45 to 90 days. This measure aims to reduce the need for extension motions, promotes greater procedural efficiency, and alleviates administrative pressures on the Court’s Registry.

The Court is required to take this additional step in light of increasing caseload, budget restrictions, and insufficient resources.

CONTEXT

New immigration proceedings have increased for a fifth record-breaking year and may exceed 30,000 files in 2026. This is nearly five times the average annual filing volume before the pandemic (2014-2019). This persistent surge is causing significant and sustained operational pressures on the Court and the Registry.

Further, Court statistics indicate this unprecedented volume will take years to abate. Despite the implementation of a range of mitigation measures, the Court is operating beyond capacity and facing a historic backlog. New files can take up to eight weeks to be processed by the Registry.

The Court is also seeing a 54% increase in urgent motions for stays of removal compared to last year. If this trend continues, it will cause the backlog to grow exponentially.

Practitioners and litigants are encouraged to review the amended Guidelines in full, available on the Notices page of the Federal Court website.

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