Humanitarian & Compassionate (H&C) Considerations for PR

Humanitarian & Compassionate (H&C) Considerations for Permanent Residence

 

Section 25 (1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, states the legislative provisions that gives authority to the Immigration Officers to waive any requirement of this Act and Regulations based on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds. Humanitarian and compassionate grounds exist when unusual, undeserved or disproportionate hardship would result if the applicant and/or the affected family had to leave Canada to apply for immigration to Canada within the standard categories.

Section 25 (1) of The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA 2002) states that:

“The Minister shall, upon request of a foreign national in Canada who is inadmissible or who does not meet the requirements of this Act, and may, on the Minister’s own initiative or on request of a foreign national outside Canada, examine the circumstances concerning the foreign national and may grant the foreign national permanent resident status or an exemption from any applicable criteria or obligation of this Act if the Minister is of the opinion that it is justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations relating to them, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected, or by public policy considerations.”

 

H & C applications are not classified as Refugee claims even though safety or risk to a person’s life may be presented and considered in an H&C consideration. The beauty of H& C applications is that unlike other immigration categories, visa officers are allowed to exercise a tremendous amount of discretion and can waive off any requirement under IRPA guided by humanitarian and compassionate considerations, best interests of a child directly affected or public policy considerations. H & C grounds are therefore very broad in nature.

 

In practice however, H&C applications are highly complex and risky. To start with, preparing H& C submissions require exceptional expertise. Thus only select professionals are able to do so in an effective manner for the applicants. H& C applications also challenge the creativity and advocacy skills of the immigration representative in advancing their client’s case based on credible facts.

 

Often times, affected families or individuals are unaware that they can apply for H&C considerations and waste years looking for a solution. At other instances, they cannot afford professional services. Therefore, they struggle to put up a convincing submission, especially if they don’t possess a high level of education, and fluency in English or French.

We take keen interest in H& C cases as our pledge to make the life changing difference affected families deserve.

If you think you have compelling reasons that warrant a humanitarian and compassionate application, we encourage you to contact us today.