They came to Canada for safety. Now they’re suspected of supporting the regime they fled

Farzin Jafari is facing an impossible choice: wait and hope the Canadian government allows him and his family to remain in Canada, or leave his wife and infant daughter in hopes they can stay if he's deemed inadmissible and forced to return to Iran.

“We are hanging from a rope as a family,” he said. “If I leave that rope, open my hand, and fall… at least my family can stay alive.”

Jafari is one of what one advocacy group says is hundreds of permanent residency applicants who received a Procedural Fairness Letter (PFL) from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in August.

The letters indicated applicants may be inadmissible to Canada because of their connection to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and would need to prove otherwise. The Canadian government listed the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2024.

“I am therefore concerned that you served in the IRGC and that you may be inadmissible to Canada per paragraph 34(1)(f) for being a member of an organization … engaging in terrorism,” the letter said.

Jafari said he didn’t have a choice where he served.

“You can't say, ‘I don't want this,’” Jafari said.

I'm not IRGC. I'm a victim of IRGC.- Farzin Jafari

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are a branch of the Iranian military with broad powers that answers directly to the country’s supreme leader. All Iranian men over the age of 18 are required to complete compulsory military service.

Proof of service is required to work or obtain a passport and conscripts have no say in the branch they serve under. 

“If you don't participate in that compulsory period, you can't have your basic civil rights,” Jafari said. “They are holding you hostage in the country until you pass this period.”

If a citizen says they don’t want to serve, they risk being jailed by the Iranian government.

WATCH | Former conscript to Iran's Revolutionary Guard may have to leave Canada:

Iranian told he may have to leave Canada over past IRGC service

15 minutes ago|

Duration 1:58

IRGC deemed a terrorist organization

Jafari completed his mandatory military service in 2011. CBC News has seen his completion card, a document provided by the Iranian military that shows he finished compulsory service.

He described his work as administrative, recording licence plates.

After finishing, he worked privately as a software engineer in Iran before moving to Canada in 2021 to start a family.

His wife had been briefly detained by Iranian morality police and he said they feared for their safety. He has spent much of his free time in Canada protesting the Iranian government and calling for the IRGC’s designation as a terrorist entity.

Jafari and his wife submitted their permanent residency applications in the winter of 2024.

That summer the Canadian government listed the IRGC as a terrorist organization and said the IRGC had provided support to other terror groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Taliban.

In January 2020, the IRGC shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 above the skies of Tehran and killed 175 passengers, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.

Justice Minister Arif Virani said while making the designation on June 19, 2024, the government was concerned about the impact of the listing on those conscripted into the IRGC, but was "careful and measured" in its approach.

"If an individual was conscripted at one point in time and no longer serves with the IRGC, that would affect the analysis," he said at the time.

WATCH | Canada designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group in 2024:

Canada designates Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist entity

June 19, 2024|

Duration 2:59

So when Jafari and his wife received PFLs because of his mandatory service, he was shocked.

“I'm not IRGC. I'm a victim of IRGC,” he said.

‘Hundreds’ of letters sent

Hundreds of applicants received similar letters on Aug. 6 and 7, according to Nahid Rahmati, a representative of the Unheard Conscripts Advocacy Network.

The group seeks to represent people conscripted to the IRGC and advocate for them within the Canadian immigration system.

Rahmati said she’s never seen anyone receive a PFL and be accepted into Canada.

“I have seen lots of cases that have been rejected,” she said. “They got the PFL and they got rejected.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in a statement it could not confirm the number of letters sent to permanent residency applicants in relation to potential IRGC ties.

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CBC News spoke with several recipients of the letters, many of whom declined to speak on the record for fear of retribution from the government of Iran.

Letters part of ‘normal’ process

In a statement, Canada's immigration and citizenship department said the listing of the guard as a terrorist entity prompts an “assessment of inadmissibility concerns where applications indicate a connection to the IRGC.”

“This is a normal part of applying Canada’s immigration law and does not mean that every person who served in the IRGC is automatically inadmissible."

Conscripts said it is difficult to prove they did not participate in the IRGC after their mandatory service ended. The IRGC does not keep a list of people who left, according to Hossein Raeesi, a criminal and human rights lawyer who practiced in Iran for two decades.

“Someone who served compulsory military service with the IRGC is not considered as a member of the IRGC,” he said.

CBC News asked the Canadian government which documents it would accept as proof that an applicant was not a member of the IRGC beyond mandatory service. 

“There is no single prescribed set of documents that applies to every case,” the agency said in a statement.

Conscripts served under duress, lawyer says

Many of the conscripts served under duress, according to Arghavan Gerami, an immigration lawyer based in Ottawa.

Two of her current clients have received PFLs and she worries Canada is expecting them to prove they tried to resist conscription.

“What are we telling them to do? ‘Say no, stand up to the regime?’” she said. “This is a country that doesn't respect the rule of law. We've seen them kill and shoot civilians and protesters.”

“These people have families and wives. We're asking them to stand up to that regime, say no to something that's mandatory and essentially put themselves in harm's way.”

She added it’s important to deny entry to high-ranking IRGC officials and those who volunteered for service willingly.

“The focus should be [on] individuals that we know are in Canada who are really the key culprits.”

Living in uncertainty

Canada has temporarily paused the removal of inadmissible individuals to Iran due to concerns for civilian safety amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

If Jafari is deemed inadmissible, he and his wife could be removed from Canada when the pause ends — and forced to take their infant daughter to Iran with them.