Can I apply for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds?
Short answer
The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act allows the Minister to examine a foreign national's circumstances and grant them permanent resident status where humanitarian and compassionate considerations justify it, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected (s. 25).
In detail
Section 25 is an exceptional measure: it allows certain requirements of the Act to be waived where humanitarian and compassionate considerations justify doing so. The text expressly states that the best interests of a child directly affected must be taken into account.
The Act also sets limits. Subsection 25(1.2) provides, in particular, that an application cannot be examined if a similar application is already pending, and that a twelve-month bar generally applies after a refugee claim has been rejected, subject to exceptions.
An application under section 25 does not automatically stop a removal order. The consequences vary with the situation: this is an area where having a lawyer or a legal aid office alongside you makes a real difference.
What to document
Everything that documents your establishment and your ties: length of time in the country, work, studies, volunteering, family ties in Canada, your children's situation (school, health, custody), ongoing medical care, along with the dates of all your previous applications and their decisions.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
Open the application Up to 3 files, no card · see the plans
Official sources
Related questions
- My permanent resident card has expired have I lost my status?
- Can I make a humanitarian application while my refugee claim is being processed?
- My work permit expires soon can I keep working?
- What is maintained status or implied status in Canada?
- Can I change employers while my extension is being processed?
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.