2. File your evidence and legal argument

Filing the Application Record is called “perfecting the application”. Your Application Record contains your supporting documents and legal arguments.

You must file your Application Record within 30 days from the later of:

• the date you filed the Notice of Application if you received the written reasons, or
• the date you received the written reasons if you filed your Notice of Application without written reasons

Your Application Record must include:

• the Notice of Decision and written reasons,
• your affidavit,
• a memorandum of law, which includes legal arguments that describe the issues, legal errors, and the evidence that supports your application, and
• all the documents that were part of your original file that you’re relying on to show that a mistake was made. New evidence usually won’t be considered.

You must file 3 copies of the Application Record with the court. This can be done in person at the court or online.

You must also give the respondent a copy of the Notice of Application and the Application Record. This is called “serving the respondent”. You must serve the respondent so that they know about the case and can respond. There are rules that you must follow when you’re serving documents.

Time limits

You can ask the Federal Court for more time to file your Application Record. To decide if you should have more time, the Court will look at:

• the strength of your case,
• the length of the delay,
• the reason for the delay, and
• whether an extension of time would be fair.

Your lawyer can contact the respondent to ask if they agree with your request for an extension of time. 

Get a response

The respondent must respond to your Application Record. They do this by filing a Respondent’s Record that describes the Department of Justice’s position on your legal arguments.

Once they receive your Application Record, the Department of Justice has 10 days to give you and the Court their Respondent Record.

Review these documents carefully.