Other formats If you can’t apply online, and require accommodations, including for a disability, you can ask for the application in another format (paper, braille or large print).
To request another format:
We will only reply to requests for alternative formats. We won't reply to any other emails.
After we get your request, we’ll reply with instructions and tell you where to send your application.
To submit your application
For more information about applying with an alternate format, call 1-888-242-2100 (from inside Canada only).
This is not a legal document. The explanations and definitions are not legal definitions. In case of a discrepancy between the language in this document and the relevant legislation or regulations, the legal text in the legislation and regulations prevails.
For legal information, consult the following documents:
This application package has:
The instruction guide:
Read the instruction guide completely and then fill out each of the applicable forms.
For an application to be considered complete, the principal applicant must fill out the forms listed below and must submit them all in the Permanent Residence Online Application Portal for the principal applicant and each of their dependants. Incomplete applications will be returned.
The forms include questions that will help the processing of your application.
This guide uses these symbols to draw your attention to important information:
What you must do to have your application processed.Important information that you need to know to avoid delays or other problems.
Where to get more information.
Note: Tips that will help you with this application.
You may use this application to apply for permanent residence from within Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds (H&C) if you:
Do not use this application if you are eligible to apply for permanent residence in any of these classes:
If your spouse or common-law partner is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act, your spouse or common-law partner can sponsor you.
You should apply using the application Applying for Permanent Residence from Within Canada - Spouse or Common-law Partner Class (IMM 5289). Visit the Application for Permanent Residence From Within Canada – Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada Class (IMM 5289) or consult the Help Centre.
If your spouse or common-law partner cannot sponsor you, you may continue using this application.
Note: You are not required to have legal immigration status to apply for permanent residence in the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada Class.
You may not apply for H&C consideration if you:
Designated Foreign National
The Minister of Public Safety advises individuals when they become a designated foreign national.
If you are a designated foreign national, you may not apply for H&C for at least 5 years after the day of your designation, or if you are a designated foreign national and made a:
You may not apply for at least 5 years after the date of the decision on that application or appeal.
In addition you may not apply for H&C consideration if you:
Note: This is known as the “12-month bar” There are exceptions to the 12-month bar. You may benefit from an exception if:
You can visit our website to learn more about the in-Canada refugee process, if you are seeking protection for any of these reasons:
If you are under a removal order and decide to submit an application for permanent residence based on H&C , it will not delay your removal from Canada. You must leave on the specified removal date. We will continue to process your application and we will notify you of the decision in writing.
Foreign nationals who wish to immigrate to Canada are required to apply for and obtain a permanent resident visa from outside of the country. Foreign nationals do not have the right to apply for permanent residence from within Canada unless they fulfill the requirements of an in-Canada immigration class.
However, section A25(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act ( IRPA ) allows foreign nationals who are inadmissible or who are ineligible to apply in an immigration class, to apply for permanent residence, or for an exemption from a requirement of the Act, based on humanitarian and compassionate ( H&C ) considerations.
Note: A person is only allowed to have one H&C application under consideration at any time.
Applying for H&C consideration is an exceptional measure – it is not simply another means of applying for permanent resident status in Canada.
To be considered for an exemption from the usual requirements of IRPA , you must:
Note: The cost and inconvenience associated with returning to your home country to apply for permanent residence are not, in the absence of other compelling factors, sufficient factors for H&C considerations.
You are responsible for making sure that all circumstances and factors that you wish to have considered are provided in your application. This must include any hardship you believe you will suffer if you are not granted the exemption(s) you are requesting. For example, if you are claiming hardship arising from circumstances in your country of origin, your supporting documents should include:
If you are subject to a one year bar on applications for permanent residence (see above “Who may not use this application”), and you are requesting an exception to the bar, you must provide information to support that request. It is also your responsibility to ensure that the information you provide is correct and up-to-date. This means that if your personal situation changes after you have submitted your application, you must notify us immediately in writing. A change in your personal situation can refer to any of the following: marital status, birth of a child, criminal convictions, change of employer, etc .
Reasons for inadmissibility include but are not limited to:
If you or a family member is inadmissible to Canada, it is strongly suggested that you resolve your inadmissibility if possible before applying for permanent residence. For example, if you are inadmissible due to a criminal conviction, you may be eligible to apply for rehabilitation or a record suspension (formerly a pardon).
Information on applying for criminal rehabilitation can be found on the our website.
Note: If you are unable to resolve your inadmissibility, you may request an exemption on humanitarian and compassionate grounds to overcome the inadmissibility; however such exemptions are given only in exceptional circumstances.
Examples of the factors that may be considered include, but are not limited to:
The best interests of any children directly affected by the decision made on your application will be taken into consideration in the assessment of your application.
Factors related to the best interests of the child may include but are not limited to the:
The best interests of a child do not outweigh all other factors in a case. The best interests of the child are only one of many important factors that will be considered by the decision-maker.
Note: You must provide specific information and supporting documents to demonstrate how the child or children inside or outside of Canada would be affected.
We no longer assess sponsorship undertakings in support of an in-Canada H&C application. Sponsorships already submitted will continue to be considered as a factor in the assessment of an H&C application similar to letters submitted by family members confirming their ability to support you. The level of importance given to supporting documents in the overall H&C application remains at the discretion of the decision-maker.
The provincial immigration authority, called the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) , must also approve your application.
You do not need to fill out extra forms; we will refer your application to the MIFI on your behalf.
If the MIFI refuses your application we will continue to process your application for permanent residence, provided you no longer live in the province of Québec.
You may include your family member(s) as defined below, residing in Canada, in your application for permanent residence for concurrent processing. Your spouse or common-law partner and dependent children must meet all other requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations to become permanent residents of Canada.
Family members residing outside Canada cannot be included for concurrent processing. However, you must declare all your family members residing inside or outside of Canada for the purpose of admissibility examination.
Your family members include your spouse or common-law partner, your dependent children and any children that are their dependent children.
Spouse
Refers to either of the two persons (any gender) in a marriage legally recognized in the country in which it took place, as well as in Canada.
Proxy, telephone, fax, internet and similar forms of marriage where one or both parties were not physically present are not considered as valid spousal relationships under the Regulations nor are polygamous marriages. For more information, consult our policy on the legality of a marriage.
Common-law partnerRefers to a person who is living in a conjugal relationship with another person (any gender), and has done so continuously for a period of at least one year. A conjugal relationship exists when there is a significant degree of commitment between two people.
This can be shown with evidence that the couple share the same home, support each other financially and emotionally, have children together, or present themselves in public as a couple.
Common-law partners who have been in a conjugal relationship for at least one year, but are unable to live together or appear in public together because of legal restrictions in their home country or who have been separated for reasons beyond their control (for example, civil war or armed conflict) may still qualify and should be included on the application.
Dependent children
We assess your child’s eligibility as a dependant based on how old they were at a specific point in time, called the "lock-in date". This is usually the date we received your application. To see if your child qualifies as a dependant, we consider the age of your child on the lock-in date, even though your child’s age may change during processing.
Your child or the child of your spouse or common-law partner can be considered a dependent child if that child meets the requirements below on the lock-in date:
Children 22 years old or older qualify as dependants if they meet both of these requirements:
With the exception of age, dependants must continue to meet these requirements until we finish processing your application.
If your child’s age was locked in on or before October 23, 2017, a previous definition of dependent children may apply.
Dependent child of a dependent child
Refers to children of dependent children of the applicant and those of the spouse or common-law partner, if applicable.
You and your family members may need to appear in person to have fingerprints and a photograph (biometric information) taken at a biometric collection service point.
Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada are exempt from giving biometrics.
As of December 3, 2019, you need to give biometrics when you apply from within Canada. You can go to a designated Service Canada location.
Find out if you need to give biometrics.
If you have to give biometrics, you can give them after you:
You must bring the BIL with you to the biometric collection service point to give your biometrics.
We encourage you to give your biometrics as soon as possible after getting the BIL. We’ll start processing your application after we get your biometrics.
You need to book an appointment to give your biometrics at one of these official biometric collection service points.
You may apply for a loan to cover the cost of the Right of Permanent Residence Fee. Loans are not available to cover processing fees. To qualify, you must show that the loan is necessary and that you have the ability to repay it. If you have been in Canada for three years or longer, you must also show that you were unable to get a loan from a bank or other lending institution.
The Right of Permanent Residence Fee loan application is available on our website. You may also refer to the section on How to contact us.
If you want to appoint someone to do business with us on your behalf, you must
An immigration representative (an immigration consultant or lawyer) can give you advice and help you with your application for a fee. But they can’t
A representative can fill out forms and communicate with us on your behalf through their own account. They can also
After you read the declaration, you must be the one who types your name. This is the legal requirement for your application to be considered “signed,” according to Canada’s immigration law.
If you want to allow us to release information from your application to someone other than yourself who will not act as your representative you must
Use the Document Checklist [IMM 5280] (opens in a new tab) to assist you in gathering the necessary documentation.
If any of the required documents are missing, or scans are not clear, your application will be returned to you.
Important information: You must provide evidence that will support any statement you make on your application. Include any additional supporting document(s) explaining your hardship, best interests of a child, or any other factor you may want considered.
It is your responsibility to ensure that the information in your application is correct and up-to-date. If your circumstances change, you must inform us. Decisions made on your application will be based on the information we have at the time your application is reviewed. Updated information should be sent to the Humanitarian Migration office in Vancouver by email to: IRCC.DNHM-Vexternal-RNMH-Vexterne.IRCC@cic.gc.ca.
You must include the following along with any document that is not in English or French:
Translations may be done by:
If the translation isn’t done by a Canadian certified translator, the person who completed the translation must provide an affidavit swearing to their language proficiency and the accuracy of the translation.
The affidavit must be sworn in the presence of:
In Canada:
Authority to certify varies by province and territory. Consult your local provincial or territorial authorities.
Outside of Canada:
Authority to administer oaths varies by country. Consult your local authorities.
Important information: Translations must not be done by the applicants themselves nor by members of the applicant’s family. This includes a parent, guardian, sibling, spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, grandparent, child, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew and first cousin.
Note: An affidavit is a document on which the translator has sworn, in the presence of a person authorized to administer oaths in the country where the translator is living, that the contents of their translation are a true translation and representation of the contents of the original document. Translators who are certified in Canada don’t need to supply an affidavit.
To have a photocopy of a document certified, an authorized person must compare the original document to the photocopy and must print all of the following on the photocopy:
Only authorized people can certify copies.
Important information: Certifying of copies must not be done by the applicants themselves nor by an applicant’s parent, guardian, sibling, spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, grandparent, child, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew or first cousin.
People authorized to certify copies include the following:
In Canada:
Authority to certify varies by province and territory. Check with your local provincial or territorial authorities to learn who has the authority to certify.
Outside Canada:
Authority to certify international documents varies by country. Check with your local authorities to learn who has the authority to certify in your country.
If you and your family members are 18 years of age and older and aren’t permanent residents or Canadian citizens, you must provide a valid police certificate for any country other than Canada in which you spent 6 or more months in a row since the age of 18.
Note: You do not need to provide a police certificate from a country if you or your family members were under 18 years of age the entire time you lived in that country.
If the original certificate isn’t in English or French, you must get an accredited translator to translate it. You must include both the police certificate and the translation.
We’ll also do our own background checks to see if there are reasons why you or your family members may not be admissible to Canada.
For specific and up-to-date information, see our guide on where to get a police certificate.
You and your family members must undergo an immigration medical exam (IME)in order to become a permanent resident of Canada. You and your family members must not have a health condition that:
Examples of “excessive demand” include ongoing hospitalization or institutional care for a physical or mental illness.
Important information: You must inform us immediately of any change in your marital status or your family composition (e.g. marriage, common-law relationship, separation, divorce, birth of a child, adoption of a child, death, etc). Any family member who has not been examined before you become a permanent resident can never be sponsored by you in the future.
Information on medical instructions will be provided to you by the IRCC office. When you receive your assessment notice you will also receive medical forms for yourself (and any dependants, if applicable) and instructions on how to access a list of doctors in your area who are authorized to conduct IMEs (see below).
Note: You are not required to have an IME before you submit your application forms.
Medical results are valid for twelve months from the date of the IME. If your application is not finalized during this time, you may be required to do another medical exam.
The IME must be performed by a doctor from the IRCC list of Panel Physicians. You cannot choose your family doctor if their name is not on this list. See the list of Panel Physicians to find a doctor in your area.
Note that the doctor is only responsible for conducting the IME and cannot give you any advice on the immigration process.