Citizenship and Immigration Canada
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Frequently asked questions:
Working temporarily in Canada

Work permits

Can I find out why the application of my friend, relative or business contact has been refused?

Under Canada’s Privacy Act, we cannot discuss the details of a case with anyone except the applicant and certain authorized people.

Before we can give you any information, the applicant must give us specific written permission to do so. In many cases, because of the volume of work (we process nearly one million applications a year), even if we can tell you the reason for the refusal, we might not be able to give you many details. For example, we might only tell you that “based on the information available, the visa officer was not satisfied that the applicant was a genuine visitor who would leave Canada when required.”

To authorize us to release personal information to a third party, applicants must fill out the form Authority to Release Personal Information to a Designated Individual. The form is available under Find an application form or guide in the I Need To… section on the right-hand side of the page.