Hundreds of Iranian refugees face possible deportation over mandatory military service

Hundreds of Iranian permanent residency applicants face potential deportation after receiving notices from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada that they may be inadmissible because of mandatory military service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Farzin Jafari, one of those applicants, completed his compulsory military service in 2011 and has a completion card issued by the Iranian military to prove it. He described his work as administrative — recording licence plates. After finishing, Jafari worked as a software engineer in Iran. His wife had been briefly detained by Iranian morality police, and the couple feared for their safety, so they moved to Canada in 2021 to start a family.

In August, Jafari received a Procedural Fairness Letter stating: "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 required him to prove otherwise. The Canadian government designated the IRGC a terrorist organization in 2024.

All Iranian men over age 18 are required to complete compulsory military service, with no say in which branch they serve. Refusing to serve risks imprisonment by the Iranian government. Those who do serve must have proof to work or obtain a passport.

Jafari and his wife submitted permanent residency applications in the winter of 2024, months after the IRGC designation. "I'm not IRGC. I'm a victim of IRGC," Jafari said. "If you don't participate in that compulsory period, you can't have your basic civil rights. They are holding you hostage in the country until you pass this period."

Jafari faces a choice: wait for Canada's decision while his wife and infant daughter remain in legal limbo, or leave them behind. "We are hanging from a rope as a family. If I leave that rope, open my hand, and fall… at least my family can stay alive," he said.