By Me Christian Imboty
A foreigner or a permanent resident can stay in Canada if, among other things, he is not forbidden on the territory and he possesses a valid residential status.
Territory interdiction can happen when, among other, you are found guilty of great crimes, crimes, organized crimes, false declarations or when you fail to comply with the Law or when there’s family inadmissibility. Then, a removal order is taken and will take effect as soon as it is not subject to be suspended and will lead to the loss of the status of permanent resident. The person will then become illegal on the territory.
Although there is removal order, a person can still stay in Canada if they respect the requirements to ask for a foreign national permanent resident status for humanitarian considerations defined at the section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The minister has a discrete power and must take his decision by only taking into account the documents submitted by the applicant. Thus, the burden of proof belongs to the applicant.
Before all, it is important to mention that the demand for a permanent resident status for humanitarian considerations does not suspend the removal order, contrarily to the pre-removal risk assessment demand.
The exemption demand for humanitarian considerations can be done inside or outside of Canada, but the procedure is different according to the applicant’s place of residence.
The admissibility requirements must be met to submit a demand. Among others, the applicant must not have a pending asylum demand and there must be more than 12 months that have passed since the applicant has obtained an unfavourable decision.
Like every rule, there are exceptions to override the restrictions. One of the most frequent exceptions is when the child’s best interests are directed affected by the removal order.
If the applicant meets the requirements, the minister can allow him to stay in Canada and to benefit from an authorization to stay in the country.
If you think that you are in one of these cases, inform yourself.
The information contained in this newsletter may be of juridical nature, but does not constitute legal advice.