Operational Bulletin 461 – August 03, 2012

Requests for Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) Consideration Citing the November 2011 Temporary Pause on Acceptance of New Sponsorship Applications

Issue

This Operational Bulletin (OB) guides officers, who assess in-Canada Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) applications. In instructs them in the way to deal with these applications received from people, who claim to suffer hardship because of the November 2011 temporary pause on new sponsorship applications from applicants belonging to:

• The parents category and,
• The grandparents category

Background

In November 2011, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism announced the Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification. This Action Plan was a short-term solution. It aimed at addressing the backlogs in the parents and grandparents categories.

Phase 1 of the Action Plan:

• Increased the number of sponsored parents and grandparents that Canada would admit from nearly 15,500 admissions in 2010 to 25,000 in 2012
• Introduced the new “Parent and Grandparent Super Visa”, which is valid for up to 10 years
• This would enable applicants to remain in Canada for up to 24 months, without having to renew their status
• Upon the conclusion of the 24 months, these applicants can apply for extending their status for up to 24 months
• Committed to initiating consultations with Canadians about how the authorities could redesign the parents and grandparents program, in a way that would be helpful in:
• Avoiding future backlogs and,
• Being sensitive to fiscal constraints
• Included a temporary pause of up to 24 months on the acceptance of new sponsorships for parents and grandparents, in an attempt to support the reduction of the accumulated backlog

OB 350 and OB 357 contain further information in this regard.

Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) Considerations – The Temporary Pause on New Sponsorship Applications Cited as Hardships for Parents and Grandparents

Situations could arise, where officers come across parents and grandparents:

• Requesting Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) consideration in Canada and,
• Citing the temporary pause on sponsorships

In such situations, officers would need to consider:

• What, if anything at all, has changed in the circumstances of the applicant, since the introduction of the temporary pause
• In cases where the applicant has received:
• An extension of a visitor visa or,
• A freshly issued multiple entry visa or a “super visa”
• What, if anything at all, has changed in the circumstances of the applicant, since the:
• Issuance of or the extension of their visitor visa
• What is the general hardship that other parents and grandparents affected by the temporary pause are experiencing
• In this scenario, is the applicant experiencing significantly greater levels of hardship than those that other parents and grandparents affected by the temporary pause are experiencing

In all Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) applications, officers usually examine all the circumstances of the situation. Then, they consider these circumstances, while making the final decision. There is only one exception to this. These concern the circumstances excluded by the legislation in Section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). Typically, the hardship brought on by the temporary pause would normally denote just one consideration among many. This is especially the case when the officers view the hardship of the applicant. Then, they place this scenario of hardship in the context of the impact of the pause on all the other applicants.

In general, officers would normally reach a positive Stage 1 assessment when they come across circumstances in which all of the factors taken together, result in their arriving at the conclusion that the applicant’s hardships would be:

• Unusual and undeserved or,
• Disproportionate, when viewed in the context of all the other similar applicants

An unusual and undeserved hardship would in most cases, denote a hardship that is:

• Not anticipated by:
• The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) or,
• The Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) OR,
• Not addressed by:
• The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) or,
• The Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) AND,
• The result of circumstances, which are beyond the applicant’s control

This is in accordance with the manual chapter IP5. The title of the chapter is Immigrant Applications in Canada Made on Humanitarian or Compassionate Grounds.

Applicants might also need to demonstrate that the hardship of not receiving the requested for exemptions, would have an unreasonable effect because of the personal circumstances of their case. This would also enable them to receive a positive Stage 1 assessment.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)