The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) has issued a service advisory indicating that its secure online portal, My Case, will be unavailable from 7 p.m. to approximately 10 p.m. ET on March 2 for scheduled maintenance. The platform allows counsel and self-represented applicants to view hearing dates, submit documents and receive tribunal correspondence electronically.
Although the three-hour window falls outside standard business hours, immigration lawyers warn that urgent filings—such as motions to stay a removal or last-minute evidence uploads—could be affected, especially for clients in western time zones. The IRB confirmed that filings due today will be considered on time if submitted before the outage or first thing on March 3. Users attempting access during the downtime will receive a maintenance splash screen; no data loss is expected.
![IRB’s ‘My Case’ Portal to Go Offline Tonight, Potentially Delaying Refugee and Appeal Filings]()
For organizations and applicants seeking extra assurance when deadlines loom, VisaHQ can provide end-to-end assistance with Canadian visa and immigration document submissions, deadline tracking and real-time portal outage alerts. Learn more at https://www.visahq.com/canada/
For global-mobility and assignment managers, the outage underscores the growing dependence on digital case portals across Canada’s immigration ecosystem. Similar IRCC account interruptions last month temporarily blocked post-graduation work-permit renewals, prompting missed payroll onboarding for at least two multinational hires. Firms are advised to build one-day safety buffers into compliance calendars for portal-based submissions and to keep fax or courier contingencies active for genuinely time-sensitive matters.
The IRB says the maintenance will enhance cybersecurity and pave the way for a new single sign-on using GCKey credentials later this spring, aligning the tribunal with IRCC’s identity-management standards. A follow-up bulletin will confirm when the portal is back online.
Although the three-hour window falls outside standard business hours, immigration lawyers warn that urgent filings—such as motions to stay a removal or last-minute evidence uploads—could be affected, especially for clients in western time zones. The IRB confirmed that filings due today will be considered on time if submitted before the outage or first thing on March 3. Users attempting access during the downtime will receive a maintenance splash screen; no data loss is expected.
For organizations and applicants seeking extra assurance when deadlines loom, VisaHQ can provide end-to-end assistance with Canadian visa and immigration document submissions, deadline tracking and real-time portal outage alerts. Learn more at https://www.visahq.com/canada/
For global-mobility and assignment managers, the outage underscores the growing dependence on digital case portals across Canada’s immigration ecosystem. Similar IRCC account interruptions last month temporarily blocked post-graduation work-permit renewals, prompting missed payroll onboarding for at least two multinational hires. Firms are advised to build one-day safety buffers into compliance calendars for portal-based submissions and to keep fax or courier contingencies active for genuinely time-sensitive matters.
The IRB says the maintenance will enhance cybersecurity and pave the way for a new single sign-on using GCKey credentials later this spring, aligning the tribunal with IRCC’s identity-management standards. A follow-up bulletin will confirm when the portal is back online.
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