The purpose of this blog post is to provide an overview of the changes to Humanitarian & Compassionate Applications (“H&C“) resulting from the Balanced Refugee Reform Act and the Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act which are now in effect. In brief, there are now several restrictions on when H&C applications can be made. Permanent Residence Applications Only Perhaps most importantly, section… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Humanitarian and Compassionate
What is a Child?
Almost two years ago I did a post on whether a disabled adult who is dependent on his parents can be considered a child for the “best interest of the child” analysis in H&C applications. At the time, I wrote that: [Saporsantos Leobrera v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2010 FC 587] holds that an adult… Continue Reading
Court Reminder that Humanitarian & Compassionate Requests have to be in Writing
In Uddin v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2011 FC 1260, Justice Harrington rejected a judicial review of an immigration officer’s inside Canada spousal sponsorship. While part of the decision dealt with procedural fairness, and the following interesting quote One might wonder what duty one owes to a scofflaw who deliberately flaunts our laws and wallows… Continue Reading
Marrying an Inadmissible Spouse
By Hammer51012 Sometimes, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and its regulations can force individuals to make really difficult choices. I recently encountered this when a client presented issues raising a refugee claim based on sexual orientation, an inadmissible spouse who had been working with a work permit, potential misrepresentation based on a misunderstanding of… Continue Reading
The Best Interests of the Child and Misrepresentation
One of the challenges in immigration law is determining the appropriate balance between the understandable necessity of ensuring that visa applicants are upfront and honest and humanitarian & compassionate considerations (“H&C considerations”). No where is this challenge more pronounced then when there are children involved. In Baker v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), the… Continue Reading
Canadian Immigration Fee Waiver Possibility?
On April 19, 2011, the Federal Court of Appeal declared that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has the authority to waive application fees for humanitarian & compassionate purposes. My favorite part of the judgment was the following passage: I do not accept the Minister’s argument on this point. The result of the Minister’s interpretation is this.… Continue Reading
Distinguishing PRRA and H&C
Failed refugee claimants, and some other types of inadmissible people within Canada, often submit both Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) applications, as well as Humanitarian & Compassionate (H&C) ones. … Continue Reading
When You Don’t Understand the Reasons In the Rejection Letter
Have you submitted an immigration application, gotten a negative response, and cannot figure out why? … Continue Reading