Humanitarian & Compassionate Cases

This application is for persons in Canada who would suffer excessive hardship if they had a return to their home country to apply for permanent residence in Canada as required by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Cost and inconvenience are not considered excessive hardship.

An immigration officer may find there are special circumstances that merit a person remain in Canada as a Permanent Resident or come to Canada even if they do not meet all the requirements of the Regulations. A person is not eligible to make a Humanitarian and Compassionate Application if they have a refugee claim pending before the Refugee Protection Division or less than 12 or 36 months have passed since an application for refugee protection was rejected, abandoned or withdrawn after the hearing started. There are exceptions if the application is based on the inability of the country of origin to provide adequate medical care or when the best interests of a child is affected.