What is an administrative deferral of removals and how is it different from asking for one myself?

An administrative deferral of removals (sometimes called a moratorium) is a blanket, government-initiated pause on removals to a specific country or region, generally put in place because of conditions there such as armed conflict or a natural disaster. It applies broadly to people from that country as a class, without each person having to ask individually, and it is announced and lifted by the government based on country conditions, not on any one person's circumstances.

This is different from an individual deferral request, which is something a specific person asks CBSA for, based on their own personal circumstances, such as a pending decision or a medical reason travel cannot happen as scheduled. An individual request can be refused even where no administrative deferral exists for that country, and conversely, an administrative deferral covering a country does not depend on, or replace, someone's ability to also raise personal reasons for their own case.

Because administrative deferrals are added and removed based on changing conditions abroad, whether one currently applies to a given country needs to be checked directly rather than assumed from past coverage.