Learn your rights for protection when experiencing unexpected hardship.

What Are Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds?

Pursuant to Section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), under the consideration of HCG and protection of children’s rights, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) can allow foreign nationals who cannot enter the country otherwise or are not eligible under immigration criteria to be exempt of the criteria and conferred permanent residency.

In terms of immigration law, review of humanitarian and compassionate appeals falls on the grounds of a person experiencing an unusual, undeserved, or disproportionate hardship causing that person to seek additional consideration for their situation.

In short, those who apply through H&C must have exceptional cases. An H&C applicant can offer any reasons that they believe will substantiate their application, for example:

• Domestic violence
• Death threats
• Persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, or political opinion
• Fear of danger of torture, cruel treatment, or punishment

Considerable Factors

• how settled the person is in Canada;
• general family ties to Canada;
• the best interests of any children involved; and
• what would happen if Canada did not grant the request?

Other Rules Apply to H&C

• The applicant may only ask for H& C if the applicant is applying for permanent resident status in Canada, or a permanent resident visa abroad. We will not look at humanitarian and compassionate requests from temporary resident applicants;
• The applicant cannot have more than one H & C application at the same time;
• We will not assess risk factors such as persecution, the risk to life, cruel and unusual treatment or punishment;
• The applicant cannot apply for H & C if the applicant has a pending refugee claim. If the applicant wants to apply, the applicant must withdraw their refugee claim before their Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) hearing;

The applicant can not apply for H & C if the applicant has received an unfavorable decision from the IRB within the last 12 months. which is also called the “one-year bar.”

Basic Procedure

There are two stages to evaluating humanitarian and compassionate immigration applications inside Canada:

Stage 1 is to assess if the applicants fulfill the criteria of humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Stage 2 is to assess if there are any other factors inhibiting the applicant from entering. If not, then the application will be allowed.

What Can We Help?

Since there are no set requirements for H&C as these applications are evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the IRCC, TWA will consider every piece of information from clients. For instance, the economy or health-related climate factors, thus providing effective humanitarian and compassionate reasons for one’s immigration application. Looking for experienced immigration counsel is crucial, in which they will assist clients in preparing practical explanations and all the necessary documents.