The Government of Canada introduced additional special measures for eligible nationals of Haiti and Zimbabwe, who wished to apply for Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) consideration under the provisions specified in the temporary public policy of February 04, 2016. These additional special measures came into being on May 21, 2016.
Under a new simplified application process, the authorities do not require eligible applicants to provide the Schedule A Background / Declaration form i.e. IMM 5669 and the Additional Family Information form up front along with their applications. In case the authorities approve the applications in principle (i.e. stage 1), they would request these forms for assessing the admissibility of the applicants (i.e. stage 2). Moreover, there might be some eligible applicants who have not yet submitted their applications. These individuals would be able to apply for accessing the Immigration Loans Program if required. This program would help them cover the processing fee of their applications.
Officers would need to send the Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) along with the fee receipts or the signed notification of intent to the Backlog Reduction Office in Vancouver (BRO-V) as per regular procedures. This would serve to notify Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) of the applicants’ intent to apply for immigration loans for covering the processing fees of their applications. Therefore, officers would need to ensure that these applications bear a postmark of no later than August 04, 2016.
Some individuals might have had a pending refugee claim on February 03, 2016. These individuals would need to submit applications for permanent residence on Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) grounds no later than six months from the first negative decision on their refugee claim from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB).
The individuals would need to mail their applications and supporting documents to the following address:
Backlog Reduction Office – Vancouver
# 600 – 605 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 5J3
In addition, the individuals would need to specify the country of origin on the envelope. Therefore, they would need label the envelope clearly with “Haiti – TSR” or “Zimbabwe – TSR”. The individuals would also need to note that they would need to pay the applicable processing fees. It is worth mentioning that the fee receipts or the signed notification of intent for applying for an immigration loan to cover the processing fees would need to accompany the applications.
Situations could arise where applicants had received a negative decision on an application for permanent residence on Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) grounds. These individuals have the option of re-applying, as long as they meet the eligibility criteria. By doing so, these individuals could benefit from the administrative deferral of removal. However, they would need to ensure that they submit their applications within the prescribed six-month timeframe. Applicants would also need to include all relevant and updated information in their applications. This would enable officers to assess these applications accurately.