Humanitarian & Compassionate

Immigration Legislation has a provision to protect individuals for Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds. This is a very important provision in the Act. This allows individuals to apply for Permanent Residence who otherwise may not be eligible.

Individuals who find themselves in Canada without status who have been living in Canada for at least 3 years may be good candidates to apply for PR through H&C.

Factors that will be considered:

Does the applicant have a history of stable employment?
Is there a pattern of sound financial management?
Has the applicant integrated into the community through community organizations, volunteer or other activities
What hardship would occur if the application for a visa exemption were refused:

the level of inter-dependency, support available in the home country
whether the applicant is able to work
is there a significant degree of establishment

Immigration Legislation also cites a statutory obligation to take into consideration the best interests of the child when examining and deciding the circumstances of a foreign national making a H&C Application. This is one of the strongest factors that can be argued under H&C applications.