IRCC has explained an important rule about Humanitarian & Compassionate claims related to special immigration programs in Canada.
Sometimes, Canada creates special programs for certain groups of people. These are called public policies. Each public policy has its own rules. For example, it may say that a person must be in Canada, must have arrived by a certain date, or must belong to a certain group.
The important point is this:
If someone does not meet the basic rules of that public policy, they usually cannot use humanitarian and compassionate reasons to fix the problem inside that same application.
Humanitarian and compassionate claims or Humanitarian and compassionate reasons, often called H&C reasons, are things like hardship, family ties in Canada, children’s best interests, or difficult personal situations. These reasons can be very important, but they do not automatically allow IRCC to ignore the rules of a special public policy.
So, think of it like this:
A public policy is like a school contest with clear rules. If the rule says you must be in Grade 7 to enter, someone in Grade 6 cannot ask the teacher to treat them as Grade 7 just because they have a good reason and think they can win the contest. The teacher may feel sorry for them, but the contest rules still apply.
In the same way, IRCC officers must check whether the person meets the public policy rules. If the person does not meet those rules, the application can be refused.
If someone wants IRCC to look at their bigger personal story, hardship, family situation, or compassionate reasons, they usually need to submit a separate H&C permanent residence application.
Simple takeaway
Public policy applications are based on specific rules. Humanitarian and compassionate (H&C )reasons cannot usually be used to skip those rules. If a person wants Humanitarian and compassionate factors fully reviewed, they may need a separate H&C application.
Example program:
A fitting example is the temporary public policy granting permanent residence to certain individuals in Canada who came to Canada under age 19 and were under the legal responsibility of the child protection system. It is an in-Canada PR public policy with defined eligibility conditions, so an H&C request could not be used to waive failure to meet those policy conditions.
