Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds also known as H&C is a criteria of immigration law that assists anyone who is has gone through an undeserved or unusual hardship. If anyone went through this type of hardship, they qualify to file a H&C claim.

In other words, H&C is applicable those who don’t normally qualify to become permanent residents of Canada but this H&C grounds would only apply to those with exceptional cases. Here are a few examples of these exceptional cases for H&C:

• General family ties to Canada
• How settled a person is in Canada
• The best interests of any children involved, and
• What would happen to you if Canada doesn’t grant the request.

But here are other rules that are applied to H&C grounds:

• H&C applications are only accepted if they are for permanent resident status in Canada or for a permanent resident visa abroad. Canada will not consider any H&C requests from

temporary resident applicants.

• You can only have one H&C application at a time.

• Canada will not assess risk factors such as persecution, risk to life, cruel and unusual treatment or same time.

• You are not eligible to apply for H&C grounds if you have a pending refugee claim. In that case, you would have to withdraw your refugee claim before Immigration and Refugee Board or Canada (IRB) hearing.

• You are not eligible to apply for humanitarian and compassionate grounds if you have a negative decision—IRB’s decision to abandon or withdraw your claim also qualifies as a negative decision—from the IRB within the last 12 months. This is known as the “one year bar.” This bar wouldn’t apply if:

• You have a minor/minors who would be adversely affected if you were to be removed from Canada.

• You have evidence that you or one of your dependents suffer from a life-threatening medical condition that cannot be treated in your home country.

Designated foreign nationals

Irregular arrivals are applied to any group of people who enter or attempt to enter Canada in an illegal manner. This means that certain rules and restrictions are applied to them.

You are considered as a “designated foreign national” if you arrived in Canada as a part of an irregular arrival. The minister of Public Safety will inform you in writing if you are one.

Please note that you cannot apply for H&C grounds until five years have passed since:

• The IRB made a final negative decision on your refugee claim and/or
• You received a negative decision on a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) and/or
• The day you became an officially designated foreign national.

Removal orders

You may be able to apply to stay in Canada on H&C grounds if you have and receive an order to leave Canada unless you apply to any of the above-mentioned restrictions. This order is known as a removal order.

If you apply for H&C grounds after receiving the removal order, it will not prevent or delay your removal from Canada. You must leave prior to or on the date stated on your removal order. Canada will still process your H&C application even if you have to leave Canada. Then Canadian government will inform you regarding their decision on your case in writing.

There is no guarantee that Canada will approve your H&C application. Also, there is no right to appeal a refused application for permanent residence on H&C grounds. But you can ask the Federal Court of Canada to review the decision in certain cases.

N.B.: You MUST keep your application up-to-date. If anything changes which may affect your application, it is your responsibility to inform Canada of the change. This is so that the decision-makers obtain all the information that you want them to consider your application.