Humanitarian Applications

Humanitarian & Compassionate (H&C) Applications

You may be eligible to submit a permanent residence application on humanitarian & compassionate (H&C) grounds if you don’t qualify to apply for permanent residence through the traditional streams.

Factors of an H&C application

A few of the factors that can strengthen an H&C application are:

  • Ties to Canada;

  • Best interests of any children affected by the application;

  • Health conditions and the inability of the applicant’s country of nationality to provide medical treatment;

  • Factors, including adverse conditions, in the country of origin;

  • Violence in the family;

  • Separation of family members; and

  • Any unique or exceptional circumstances that might merit relief.

You don’t have to meet all factors, and the last factor is broad, so you might just qualify to submit an H&C application.

We recommend that you book a consultation with us today, so that we can hear your story and tell you about your options.

Submitting an H&C application from outside Canada

In order to show that you have ties to Canada and that you’re established here, it’s best to submit an H&C application from inside Canada, but Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will still accept H&C applications submitted from outside Canada.

Bars to submitting an H&C application

Certain people are barred from submitting an H&C application:

  1. If you received a negative decision from the Refugee Protection Division, the Refugee Appeal Division, or you withdrew your refugee claim, you can’t submit an H&C application for 12 months from the date you received the decision; and

  2. Designated foreign national refugee claimants can’t submit an H&C application for 5 years from the day they received the designation.

However, the first bar doesn’t apply to claimants who have children under 18 that would be negatively impacted by the claimant’s removal from Canada.

We know that this sounds complicated, and it’s a lot to take in, so we recommend that you book a consultation with us today, so that we can hear your story and tell you about your options.

An H&C application doesn’t stop removal proceedings

An H&C application doesn’t stop removal proceedings. This means that if you’re in Canada without status and you submitted an H&C application, you could be removed from Canada, but IRCC will continue to process your application in your absence.