Assisted Voluntary Return: ‘The Pay to Go Scheme’

As of June 29, 2012 the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA), in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), began a 3 year “pay to go” pilot program with the stated intention of encouraging timely and voluntary returns of failed refugee claimants. The Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) pilot programme, currently available only in the Greater Toronto Area, is intended to provide an alternative to enforced removal after a final negative decision on a refugee claim. Many European countries have similar programmes, also partnering with the IOM. The primary stated justification for the introduction of this program is cost savings: paying failed refugee claimants to leave voluntarily is cheaper than enforced removals and failed claimants will spend less time in Canada and therefore receive less in social and health benefits (although given the already deep cuts to the health coverage for refugee claimants it is hard to see how this initiative will result in much savings) .
The programme offers a financial incentive (in kind) to persons who have lost their refugee claims in Canada to leave voluntarily. How much a person receives depends on at what stage in the removal process the application is made:
$2,000 if before filing an Application for Leave in the Federal Court (or if an application is discontinued);
$1,500 if before submitting a Pre Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) application ( or if an application is withdrawn);
$1000 if already received a PRRA decision.
At a joint CBSA/IOM information session held before the launch of the program officials were clear that no cash grants would be provided. The financial assistance would be solely about in-kind assistance equivalent to a defined amount and will be provided in the country of origin. However the Manual Chapter ENF 34 Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Pilot Program states that a cash payment may be made in exceptional circumstances. That chapter also provides a list of the types of assistance that the IOM will provide. The list includes:

Vocational training
Legal material
Micro business loan
Professional equipment
Temporary accommodation and
housing
Training and schooling/education
Wage subsidies
Childcare
Additional luggage allowance.

Vulnerable cases and medical cases are also listed but no explanation is provided of what this means in terms of actual assistance provided by the IOM. Although promised in the summer of 2012, an IOM website describing its activities in Canada, is still under development. It is presumed that this website would provide a better explanation of the types of assistance that may be offered under this program.
The program manager for the IOM in Toronto has advised that from July 29 to October 31, 2012 a total of 500 returnees have been returned to 50 different countries. She further advised that most returnees have used their “reintegration allowance” to cover temporary accommodation on return and material assistance like basic furniture. Some have used the allowance to attend training or buy tools to start or restart small businesses.
Not everyone is eligible for this program. The defining characteristic of this program is that it is voluntary. Presumably if at any time either CBSA or the IOM has reason to believe that an applicant has reservations about returning to his or her country of origin, their application will not be able to proceed. Also, a number of categories of failed refugee claimants are ineligible to apply:
persons who have withdraw or abandoned their claims;
persons whose claims were found to have no credible basis;
persons from countries subject to
a temporary suspension of removals;
persons who failed to comply with any terms or conditions set by the Government of Canada;
persons found excluded from refugee protection pursuant to Articles 1E and F of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees;
persons who fail to complete a travel document application when requested to do so by CBSA;
persons who have an outstanding warrant for their arrest or removal by CBSA or any law enforcement agency;
persons who have been reported for criminality (minor or serious);
persons who have been found to be inadmissible or are reported as being inadmissible on security grounds, on grounds of violating human or international rights or on grounds of organized criminality;
persons who have an outstanding application for permanent residence along with a spousal sponsorship application.
Files will be screened against these criteria by an Inland Enforcement Officer (IEO) when a negative refugee decision or PRRA decision is received. If it is determined that the person may be eligible for the AVRR programme they will be notified in writing of an AVRR interview. This is similar to a pre-removal interview but with the added assessment of whether the person is in fact eligible for the AVRR programme. If the person wishes to enrol in the program they will be given an AVRR application form, the contact information for the IOM and be told that they must contact the IOM within 24 hours of receiving a negative PRRA decision by the IEO or 15 days in all other cases. If the AVRR application form is not received within the time period, the file will be transferred back to the regular removal process.
Much remains unclear about this program specifically what, in concrete terms, an AVRR applicant may receive. It will only be possible to get clarity on this, in the context of any particular case, by attending an appointment with the IOM. The program has been touted as being beneficial for all involved, Canada achieves a high level of removals with reduced cost; the returnees can get assistance in creating sustainable small businesses and the communities to which they return get the benefit of increased economic activity. The experience in Europe, however, does not support these predictions. Although there are only a limited number of post return studies, they show that there is a very high failure rate among business ventures using reintegration support. It is presumed that this information will not be provided to applicants at the AVRR interview.
CBSA predicts that that this program could result in the voluntary departure of up to 6955 failed refugee claimants. As the program is set to run for 3 years this is an estimated 2300 voluntary departures per year. IOM data from 2009 however shows that out of 20 countries with similar programmes only 5 achieved numbers like this. The remaining 75% had annual returns of 1600 or less. As such CBSA’s predictions seem unreasonable.