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Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds Applications

This is an application for permanent residence from inside Canada. These applications ask for two exemptions:

  1. Applying from inside Canada. In most of the cases, the application must be done from outside Canada.

  2. Not applying under any of the existing immigration streams.

A person needs to have important reasons as to why they should be allowed to stay. These can include establishment, the best interest of the children, and hardship.

There are some people who cannot apply for H&Cs:

  • A refugee claimant waiting for a decision cannot apply for an H&C.

  • A person whose refugee claim has been denied cannot apply for twelve months. There are two exceptions to this: if there is a medical condition that puts the life at risk or it is in the best interest of any child under 18 that would be harmed by your removal

  • A person who had withdrawn a refugee claim within the last twelve months

  • A Designated Foreign National, or someone who came into Canada from an irregular way, cannot apply until five years from the date the government decided they belong to a special category of foreign nationals,

What makes a successful H&C?

Immigration officers will look at all the factors in your application before deciding. However, the three main factors that they focus on are:

  • Will you face hardship if you leave Canada?

  • What is your establishment in Canada?

The success rate of this kind of application is very low.

For information: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5291-humanitarian-compassionate-considerations.html

For processing time of the H&C applications: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html

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