The Guidelines Concerning the Counselling of Clients

Last Updated on August 28, 2016

The Guidelines for the Postponement of Removals

Many clients might call the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Call Centre for updates. The officers would need to provide these with an update on case status. In addition, they would need to counsel these individuals on the administrative deferral of removal pensions that have been put in place for Haiti and Zimbabwe. The officers would need to inform these individuals that they could consider their removals as being deferred if they are eligible – these eligibility conditions appear earlier in this document.

The individuals would need to meet all the eligibility criteria for the authorities to consider them for a deferral of their removal, pending their humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) review. Some individuals might not be able to meet all the prescribed criteria. In this scenario, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) would need to effect removals immediately. However, these individuals are eligible for applying for pre-removal risk assessments (PRRAs).

The Transitional Provisions for Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) Applications for Permanent Residence Received Prior to This Temporary Public Policy and while the Stage 1 Decision is Pending

Situations could arise where the authorities receive Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) applications between June 01, 2015 and February 04, 2016. In this scenario, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) would need to:

• Send letters that give the applicants the opportunity to update their Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) applications within 60 days
• Conduct the eligibility assessment within three weeks, once the 60 days have passed

If the applicant is eligible, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) would need to:

• Add the following note in the IMM screen in the Global Case Management System (GCMS): “Applicant applied for H&C consideration under the OB 600-A and meets the eligibility criteria for the temporary public policy”
• Send the Demande d’examen du parcours d’intégration au Québec en vue de l’obtention du certificat de selection form along with the relevant supporting documents to the ministère de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion (MIDI) (this is applicable only to applicants who are residents of Quebec) and,
• Make a stage 1 decision (for Quebec cases, this would only take place once the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) receives the ministère de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion’s (MIDI’s) decision)

If the applicant is not eligible, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) would need to:

• Add the following note in the IMM screen in the Global Case Management System (GCMS): “Applicant applied for H&C consideration under the OB 600-A but does not meet the eligibility criteria for the temporary public policy due to [insert reason]. Processing of application will continue as per regular procedures”
• Process the application in accordance with the regular procedures and,
• Request for a Certificat de sélection du Québec (CSQ) once the authorities approve the application (this is applicable only to applicants who are residents of Quebec)

Other Permanent Resident Categories

Applicants would typically submit applications for permanent residence under in-Canada class. This class comprises:

• The spouse or common-law partner in Canada class
• The live-in caregiver class
• The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and,
• The permit holder’s class

In some cases, the possibility exists that the authorities might not have rendered a stage 1 decision. For these applicants, the authorities would continue processing the applications. However, the applicants would not benefit from the administrative deferral of removal under the temporary public policy.

Similarly, some applicants might meet the eligibility criteria as specified in this Operational Bulletin (OB). In this scenario, these applicants might be able to qualify for an administrative deferral of removal if they submit humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) applications on or prior to August 04, 2016. Applicants would also have the ability to append humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) requests to existing applications for permanent residence. This is especially so when the authorities have not made a stage 1 decision. In this scenario, the applicants would not need to pay any fees. This is in accordance with the provisions specified in section R307.

The applicants would need to send the request to the office processing the applications for permanent residence. The officers would need to assess the eligibility criteria for the temporary public policy. Thereafter, they would need to follow the steps outlined earlier in this document i.e. the Global Case Management System (GCMS) note, the special program coding etc.

The Guidelines for Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA)

Some individuals could be eligible for the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) through the regular process. This is especially so if:

• These individuals are subject to enforceable removal orders and,
• The authorities have rejected the Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) applications submitted by these individuals

These individuals would need to note that the removal of individuals who apply under the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) receives a stay or a suspension. This is in accordance with the guidelines mentioned in Section R232.

Note:

• Section 307 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations(IRPR) specifies that applicants would need to pay certain fees for the processing of their applications made in accordance with section 66 or for examining the circumstances under subsection 25.2 (1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA)
  • This applies to foreign nationals who apply for permanent resident status or for permanent resident visas, if no fees are payable by the same applicant for processing an application to remain in Canada as a permanent resident or an application for a permanent resident visa
  • Foreign nationals would need to pay:
    • $550 in the case of a principal applicant
    • In the case of a family member of the principal applicant who is a spouse or a common-law partner – $550 and,
    • In the case of a family member of the principal applicant who is a dependent child – $150
• Section 232 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations(IRPR) deal with the stays of removal for Pre-Removal Risk Assessments (PRRAs)
  • The authorities stay a removal order once the Department notifies the person under subsection 160 (3) that the individuals could make an application under subsection 112 (1) of theImmigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), and the stay would be in effect until the earliest of the following events takes place:
    • The Department receives confirmation in writing from the person that they do not intend to make an application
    • The person does not make an application within the period provided under section 162
    • The authorities reject the application for protection
    • In the event that the authorities make a decision to allow the application for protection under paragraph 114 (1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), the authorities will also make the decision with respect to the person’s application permitting the individual to remain in Canada as a permanent resident and,
    • The authorities cancel the stay based on the provisions specified in subsection 114 (2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) – this applies to people to whom the provisions specified in subsection 112 (3) of theImmigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) applies