Adjudicator Daphne Shaw Dyck says she has decided to allow their release on strict conditions.
The rules include that they continue to live at a condo in Burnaby, which they can only leave during specific times and not together.
They must also post $80,000 bonds, and report to authorities regularly while they appeal the ruling that denied them refugee status.
Lai Changxing
China accuses Lai of masterminding a huge smuggling and corruption scandal.
Earlier this week federal lawyers revealed that Lai may face criminal charges in Canada.
An RCMP affidavit presented at Lai's detention hearing on Tuesday, alleged he tried to obtain false passports since he arrived in Canada. The document says Lai is also being investigated by the RCMP Proceeds of Crime Unit over allegations of money laundering.
Lai, at the top of China's most-wanted list, is accused of masterminding a multi-billion-dollar smuggling network, and China wants the couple sent back to face charges.
He fled to Canada along with his wife and four children in 1999, and was arrested a year later. Lai denies breaking any laws back home.
For six months a Canadian refugee board considered his request to stay in the country – reviewing thousands of documents and interviewing dozens of witnesses.
Lai's lawyers argued that his life would be in danger if he were returned to China, where at least 14 people have received the death penalty for their roles in the smuggling operation.
But Beijing wants to put him on trial so badly, it has taken the unusual step of promising not to execute Lai if he is convicted.
In its 294-page decision released June 21, the refugee panel said Lai and his wife Tsang Mingna were "not credible" applicants.
"There were serious reasons for considering Lai had committed the crimes of smuggling and bribery," the board wrote. Similar concerns were raised about his wife.
If sent back to China, "there is also no more than a mere possibility that they will suffer any mistreatment that may amount to persecution," according to the panel.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- HMCS Corner Brook collision damage extensive
- The damage done to HMCS Corner Brook when it hit the ocean floor off B.C.'s coast last summer was more extensive than first reported, CBC News has learned by obtaining exclusive pictures of the submarine. more »
- Mandatory gun sentence struck down by Ontario judge
- An Ontario Superior Court judge has struck down a mandatory minimum sentence for a first offence of possessing a loaded firearm. more »
- Online surveillance critics siding with child porn: Toews
- Critics of a bill that would give law enforcement new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications are aligning themselves with child pornographers, Canada's public safety minister says. more »
- Low vitamin D in womb tied to poor language skills
- Children born to women who had low levels of vitamin D during their pregnancy are more likely to have language problems, a new study suggests. more »
Latest Canada News Headlines
- HMCS Corner Brook collision damage extensive
- The damage done to HMCS Corner Brook when it hit the ocean floor off B.C.'s coast last summer was more extensive than first reported, CBC News has learned by obtaining exclusive pictures of the submarine. more »
- Canada's ailing submarines
- All four Victoria-class subs in for repairs more »
- B.C. drops plan to televise Vancouver riot trials
- The B.C. government is dropping its attempts to have trials in connection to the 2011 Vancouver riot televised, the provincial attorney general says. more »
- Stanley Cup rioter seen in brick attack on cop
- Vancouver police have released video of a suspect who hit an officer in the head with a two-kilogram brick during the Stanley Cup riot. more »
On Tonight's National
Top stories
Shafia Jury Deliberations
- Dan Halton
- The jury in the Shafia murder trial begun deliberations today. Mohammad Shafia, his wife and his son are accused of killing four of their family members. They are charged with four counts of first-degree murder and have all pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Watch the Best of the Show
- Get Connected
- Syria cracks down on protesters, one day before an Arab League delegation arrives.
Stay Connected
- Carolyn Dunn
- An English soccer captain is facing racial abuse charges after an on-field exchange with another player.
The Current
- Panda Diplomacy Feb. 13, 2012 1:59 PM Zoos in Canada are getting ready to welcome two giant pandas despite concerns about whether this will actually generate revenue and awareness about conservation.
- HMCS Corner Brook collision damage extensive
- Online surveillance critics siding with child porn: Toews
- Stanley Cup rioter seen in brick attack on cop
- Mandatory gun sentence struck down by Ontario judge
- Whitney Houston's body headed home to New Jersey
- Whitney Houston's body now at N.J. funeral home
- Man pleads guilty to murder of stepdaughter, 17
- Whitney Houston estate value set to soar
- HIV-positive B.C. man jailed for assault, child porn
