Preparing for an RPD hearing: a 30-day checklist

By the time a refugee claimant receives a hearing notice from the Refugee Protection Division, the Basis of Claim (BOC) form has already been filed, witnesses identified, and country-condition evidence partially assembled. The 30 days before the hearing are when the file gets sharp — or where it falls apart.

This checklist is what we run through with every client in the month before an RPD hearing. It is not a substitute for representation. It is the floor.

Note for self-represented claimants: refugee hearings are high-stakes, and credibility is the central issue in roughly 70% of negative decisions. If you are reading this checklist because you do not have a representative, please consider applying for Legal Aid in your province or contacting an RCIC-IRB or lawyer. Halani Immigration Services Inc. accepts Legal Aid certificates where eligible.

Day −30: Re-read the BOC, line by line

The single most important document in your case is the BOC narrative. Before anything else, re-read it from start to finish, ideally aloud. Mark every:

• Date you are not certain you can recall on the stand
• Geographic detail (street name, neighbourhood, transit route) that has shifted in your memory
• Person mentioned — and write down what you can tell the panel about them if asked
• Statement that compresses two events into one (this becomes a credibility issue under questioning)

Anything that surprises you on the second read will surprise you again at the hearing — except at the hearing, the surprise will be on the record.

Bring this annotated copy to your representative. Do not amend the BOC after this stage unless absolutely necessary; amendments raise their own questions. The goal is to know the BOC well enough to testify consistently with it.

Day −28: Organize personal identity documents

The RPD is required to be satisfied of your identity before considering the merits of your claim. Have ready:

• Original passport (if available) and any prior passports
• National identity card, voter card, or equivalent
• Birth certificate
• Education credentials and employment records (these are also corroborating evidence)
• Any document mentioning your political affiliation, religious affiliation, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other Convention ground that grounds your claim

Originals where possible, certified translations into English (or French, in francophone proceedings) for anything not already in those languages.

Day −25: Country-conditions evidence binder

The IRB maintains a National Documentation Package (NDP) for every country, updated periodically. Your representative will rely on the NDP, but specific evidence tailored to your claim usually beats generic NDP citations.

For each ground of persecution in your BOC, identify:

• 2–4 recent (within 24 months) reports from authoritative sources (UNHCR, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US State Department Human Rights Reports, BBC, Reuters)
• Any documentation specific to your region or city (not just country-wide)
• Any documentation specific to your profile (e.g. women, religious minorities, LGBTQ+ persons, journalists, political activists)
• Where the persecution involves a state actor, evidence of the actor's pattern of conduct
• Where the persecution involves a non-state actor, evidence that the state cannot or will not protect

The country-conditions binder is what the panel will rely on if your testimony is found credible but they want to weigh objective fear — the second prong of the Convention refugee test.

Day −21: Witness coordination

Witnesses must be disclosed to the IRB in advance under the Refugee Protection Division Rules. If you intend to call witnesses:

• Confirm each witness can attend (in person or by video) on the hearing date
• Notify your representative so they can file a witness list with the RPD
• Have each witness prepared with a clear sense of what they will be asked and what they personally know
• Witnesses should testify only to what they have personally witnessed or experienced — not what they were told

A weak witness who speculates beyond their direct knowledge often undermines rather than supports the claim.

Day −18: Medical, psychological, and corroborating reports

If your claim involves torture, sexual violence, or persecution that has caused PTSD or other psychological consequences, a medical or psychological report from a qualified Canadian provider is among the strongest corroborating evidence available.

These reports take time to obtain — usually 4–8 weeks from referral. If you are at day −18 and do not yet have a report, decide with your representative whether to:

• Postpone the hearing (postponements are not granted lightly; there must be a reason)
• Proceed without the report and rely on testimony plus other corroboration
• Submit a report request and seek a brief delay

This decision should be made deliberately, not by default.

Day −14: Hearing logistics

Confirm with your representative:

• The hearing format (in person, by Zoom, or hybrid) — most hearings are now by video
• The hearing location (or video login details)
• Interpreter needs — you have a right to an interpreter; specify dialect not just language
• Transportation, if in person; technology check, if by video
• Whether the Minister's representative will be present (this happens in roughly 5–10% of claims and changes the dynamics significantly)

If you have any accommodation needs (vulnerable-person designation, designated representative for a minor, mental-health considerations), these should already be on file. Confirm.

Day −10: Mock testimony

This is the single most important preparation step.

A mock testimony session is a 60–90 minute simulation of the questioning at the hearing. Your representative plays the role of the panel member and walks you through:

• Identity confirmation
• The chronology of your claim
• The triggering events for leaving your country
• Your route of travel
• Your decision to claim asylum in Canada
• Internal Flight Alternative (IFA) questions — could you have safely lived elsewhere in your country?
• State protection — did you seek help from authorities, and if not, why not?
• Anticipated tough questions specific to your case

Mock testimony does not mean rehearsing answers. It means practicing the process of testifying — staying calm, listening to the question, asking for clarification when needed, taking breaks when offered, and being honest even when the answer is uncomfortable.

If memorized answers come up at the actual hearing, the panel will hear it. Authenticity matters more than polish.

Day −7: Final document submission

Under the RPD Rules, documents must generally be disclosed at least 10 days before the hearing. Anything submitted later requires the panel's discretion to admit, and may be excluded entirely.

By day −7, your representative should have already filed:

• The personal-evidence binder (identity, corroborating documents, expert reports)
• The country-conditions binder
• Any witness statements or affidavits
• A pre-hearing memorandum summarizing the case

If your file is missing any of this on day −7, raise it with your representative immediately.

Day −3: The dress rehearsal

Three days before the hearing, run through the entire case one more time. Not to memorize, but to settle the chronology and the key facts in your mind.

If your representative offers a final preparation call, take it. If they do not, ask for one.

Day 0: The hearing

On hearing day:

• Eat. Sleep the night before to whatever extent you can.
• Arrive (or log in) 30 minutes early. Test your video and audio if remote.
• Bring originals of all documents in your binder.
• If you do not understand a question, ask for it to be repeated or clarified. The interpreter is required to interpret faithfully — if you sense a translation issue, raise it immediately.
• Take breaks when offered. The panel will offer them, and you have a right to ask for one if you need it.
• Answer the question that was asked, then stop. Long unprompted explanations are how strong cases become weak ones.

Your representative will make submissions at the end of the hearing. The decision is normally reserved and issued in writing within roughly 90 days.

After the hearing

The decision will arrive in writing. If positive, we move immediately to landing instructions for permanent residence (a successful refugee claim leads to PR through the Protected Person stream). If negative, we have 15 days to file a Notice of Appeal at the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD), and 30 days from the Notice to perfect the appeal.

A negative RPD decision is not the end of the road. The RAD reviews the case on the record, identifies errors of fact or law, and can substitute its own determination. Some categories of claimants do not have RAD access — in those cases, judicial review at the Federal Court is the next step.

Bottom line

The 30 days before an RPD hearing are the window where most of the work happens. None of it is glamorous: re-reading the BOC, organizing identity documents, building a country-conditions binder, running mock testimony, double-checking witness logistics. But this is what separates a credible, well-prepared claim from one that fails on procedural or credibility grounds that could have been avoided.

If you are reading this with a hearing on the calendar, the most important thing you can do today is call your representative and confirm what stage your file is at against this checklist.

Halani Immigration Services Inc. is led by Shoukat Qumruddin Halani, RCIC-IRB (CICC No. R711322), authorized at all IRB tribunals including the Refugee Protection Division and the Refugee Appeal Division. We accept Legal Aid certificates where eligible.

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