Humanitarian and Compassionate Cases

Lawyers for Humanitarian and Compassionate Immigration Cases

If you can’t qualify as an economic immigrant and you can’t be sponsored by a family member in the normal way, you may still be able to become a Permanent Resident based on humanitarian and compassionate considerations (an “H&C” application). We have rarely seen an oversees application succeed so you should be in Canada currently and plan to stay during the processing of the application.

This immigration category was created to recognize that there are some situations where people are deserving of Permanent Residence even though they don’t meet the criteria of a normal immigration category.

Officers will look at:

• Your and your family’s ties to your home country (language proficiency there, family members there, time lived there etc.) and also the conditions in your home country;
• Your ties to Canada and establishment here
• Your and your family’s immigration status and if you formed relationships here whether you did so when you had status
• Links to family here, emotional and financial dependencies and how it would affect family if you left (this is a key factor as the best interests of children here carry significant weight)
• Any history of family violence
• Any health considerations (including whether the home country can provide effective medical treatment)

Note that based on caselaw from the Supreme Court of Canada, officers must now assess applications through a “lens of compassion” rather than rigidly requiring that applicants demonstrate undue hardship.