Establishment in Canada
Length and quality of residence; employment; education; taxes; volunteer work; language; financial responsibility; community involvement and the reasons establishment occurred.
What is an H&C application?
A request for an exemption—not an automatic right.
Section 25(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act permits a foreign national to ask for permanent residence, or an exemption from requirements of the Act or Regulations, based on humanitarian and compassionate considerations. The applicant must identify the exact exemptions requested and provide compelling evidence explaining why relief should be granted.
The usual applicant is a foreign national currently living in Canada who cannot qualify for permanent residence under an available in-Canada class. Where a person can use a regular family, economic, protected-person or permit-holder class, that route should generally be assessed first.
H&C may address
- Establishment and long residence in Canada.
- Close family and community ties.
- The best interests of children directly affected.
- Health, disability and access-to-care consequences.
- Family violence and vulnerability.
- Separation from relatives and support networks.
- Country conditions creating hardship, where the claim is not a substitute refugee claim.
- Exceptional inadmissibility or statutory barriers where an exemption is legally available.
How officers assess the case
The complete human story must be proven.
Best interests of children
The child’s age, needs, relationships, education, health, identity, establishment in Canada and the concrete effect of removal or separation. The impact must be specific to each child.
Family relationships
Emotional, practical and financial dependence; caregiving; the impact of separation; family members’ status and whether relationships can realistically continue elsewhere.
Hardship and country conditions
Individualized consequences of return, not merely general difficulty. Evidence should connect objective country information to the applicant’s particular circumstances.
Health and vulnerability
Diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, available care, cost, interruption risk, disability, trauma, age and the applicant’s support network can all matter when supported by expert evidence.
Conduct and immigration history
Compliance, efforts to regularize status, explanations for non-compliance, criminality or misrepresentation, rehabilitation and accountability are considered in the overall balance.
H&C is not a refugee claim.
Persecution, torture, risk to life and cruel or unusual treatment belong in the refugee or protection system. Country conditions can still be relevant to hardship, but an H&C application cannot simply repackage a protection claim.
Who cannot apply—or may face a bar
Threshold rules must be checked first.
Generally not eligible to file
- Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
- A person with another H&C application still awaiting a decision.
- A person with an outstanding refugee claim.
- Certain designated foreign nationals during the applicable five-year bar.
The 12-month refugee-claim bar
A person whose refugee claim was rejected, abandoned or withdrawn within the preceding 12 months may be barred, subject to narrow exceptions. Exceptions can apply where a child under 18 would be directly and adversely affected or where inadequate medical care would expose the person to a risk to life.
Dates, procedural history and the evidence supporting an exception must be reviewed carefully before filing.
Application process
Build the record before asking for discretion.
Legal assessment
Confirm that H&C is available, identify bars and removal risks, compare other pathways and define each exemption required.
Case theory
Develop a coherent explanation showing how the evidence, law and humanitarian factors fit together and why an exemption is justified.
Evidence collection
Gather civil records, status history, tax and employment evidence, school and medical records, expert reports, country evidence and detailed supporting statements.
Online PR application
Complete the Permanent Residence Portal forms, document checklist, Supplementary Information form and written legal submissions; pay the required fees.
Biometrics and updates
Provide biometrics if required and keep IRCC informed of every material change, including relationships, children, employment, medical issues and new evidence.
Stage-one decision
An officer decides whether the humanitarian factors justify the requested exemption. A positive eligibility decision is often called approval in principle.
Admissibility stage
Medical, criminality, security and other admissibility requirements are assessed. Family members must be declared and may require examination even if not accompanying.
Final decision
If all requirements are satisfied, permanent residence can be granted. A refusal may be challenged through an application for leave and judicial review in Federal Court, subject to strict deadlines.
10+ years
IRCC’s current forward-looking warning for most new applications in the combined H&C and Other category.
Processing times are now exceptionally long.
IRCC told Parliament in September 2026 that most new applicants in the H&C and Other category can expect to wait more than ten years for a permanent-residence decision. The category has no service standard, and IRCC says the high inventory and limited admissions space mean long waits are expected to persist.
This is a planning estimate for a broader reporting category—not a guaranteed timeline for every individual in-Canada H&C file. Urgent facts, case complexity, admissibility, document requests, litigation and policy changes can affect timing.
Filing does not stop removal.
An H&C application does not automatically give immigration status, a work permit or a stay of removal. A person under a removal order may still have to leave Canada while the application continues. Applicants generally become eligible to seek a work or study permit only after a positive eligibility decision, unless another legal basis applies.
Evidence that can make the difference
Every important assertion should be documented.
Personal and Canadian evidence
- Applicant declarations and a detailed chronology.
- Letters from relatives, employers, schools, religious and community organizations.
- Employment, tax, education, housing and volunteer records.
- Evidence of caregiving and financial or emotional dependence.
- Children’s school, medical, psychological and developmental evidence.
Expert and objective evidence
- Medical, psychological or social-work reports.
- Country-condition reports tied to the individual case.
- Evidence about treatment availability, accessibility and cost.
- Proof of family violence, discrimination or other vulnerability.
- Plans addressing housing, support, employment and long-term stability.
Current rules reviewed against IRCC Guide 5291 and IRCC’s September 4, 2026 parliamentary briefing on H&C inventory and processing expectations.
A persuasive record takes careful work
We prepare the application as a complete legal and evidentiary case.
We identify the exemptions, develop the case theory, organize the evidence, prepare detailed submissions, respond to IRCC and advise on status, removal risk and possible Federal Court remedies.