Humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) considerations: Assessment and processing
This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.
Humanitarian and compassionate assessment
What warrants relief will vary depending on the facts and context of the case, but officers making humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) determinations must substantively consider and weigh all the relevant factors before them (Kanthasamy v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 SCC 61; Baker v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1999] 2 SCR 817). Furthermore, individual H&C factors should not be considered in isolation; there must be a global assessment of all the relevant factors.
The standard to be applied is set out in subsection 25(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA): whether relief is justified by humanitarian and compassionate considerations relating to the foreign national, taking into account the best interests of a child directly affected. When the applicant is a minor, the balancing of the positive and negative factors must be assessed as they relate to the best interests of the child.
The following are some considerations when processing applications or requests for H&C considerations:
- Initial assessment of an H&C application
- Requirement to apply for permanent residence from outside Canada
- Hardship and the H&C assessment
- Inadmissibility
- Best interests of the child
- Assessment of Guardianship and Kafala arrangements
- Former Canadian citizens
- Ministerial Instructions and H&C Considerations
- Dealing with family relationships
- Establishment in Canada: In-Canada applications
- Ability to establish in Canada: Overseas applications
- Reconsideration of a negative decision
- Statelessness