Canada humanitarian and compassionate applications

Humanitarian and compassionate cases (H&C)

This application is for persons in Canada who would suffer excessive hardship if they had to return to their home country to apply for permanent residence in the normal way, as the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act requires. Cost and inconvenience are not considered excessive hardship. An H&C application is decided on the whole of a person's circumstances: establishment in Canada, the best interests of any child affected, family ties, health, and the conditions they would face on return.

XIPHIAS Immigration, Dubai, through its team of lawyers and regulated consultants, prepares and files H&C applications and handles all correspondence with IRCC until a decision is made.

Protected persons and Convention refugees

In Canada, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) decide who is a protected person. If the IRB determined you to be a person in need of protection or a Convention refugee, or if you received a positive decision on your Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA), you are a protected person and may apply for permanent residence on that basis.

You may also apply for permanent residence if you are a member of the Protected Temporary Residents Class: people admitted to Canada on a temporary resident permit who were found by a visa office to be in urgent need of protection.

Caregivers

Caregivers are people qualified to provide care for children, elderly persons or persons with disabilities in private homes without supervision. Canada's Live-in Caregiver Program closed to new applicants in 2014 and the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots that followed closed in June 2024. The Home Care Worker Immigration Pilots that opened on 31 March 2025 give eligible caregivers permanent residence on arrival, with a job offer from a Canadian household or organisation. Both the employer and the caregiver have steps to complete; we prepare both sides.

The other Canadian classes

The earlier version of this page also summarised the economic and family classes. Each now has its own page:

• Express Entry — Federal Skilled Worker, Federal Skilled Trades and Canadian Experience Class
• Provincial Nominee Program
• Business classes — Start-up Visa and provincial entrepreneur streams
• Family sponsorship — spouses, partners, children, parents and grandparents
• Refugee sponsorship — Groups of Five and community sponsors