Am I entitled to an interpreter at my refugee hearing, and can I choose the language?

Yes, an interpreter is provided free of charge if you need one to understand and participate meaningfully in your hearing, and this is treated as a matter of basic procedural fairness rather than a discretionary courtesy. You generally identify the language and dialect you need well in advance so the Immigration and Refugee Board can arrange a qualified interpreter for the hearing date.

You don't get unlimited choice of a specific individual interpreter, but you are entitled to interpretation in the language and dialect you actually understand best, and you can raise concerns if the interpreter provided is not accurately conveying what you or others are saying. Dialect matters more than people expect — the same language can have regional variations significant enough to cause real miscommunication, so being specific about your dialect when requesting an interpreter matters.

If problems come up during the hearing itself — you don't understand a question, or something seems mistranslated — you can and should raise it immediately rather than continuing and hoping it gets sorted out later, since interpretation errors that go unaddressed can affect how your testimony is understood and assessed.