Regulation 147 — Family class — exclusion for non-accompanying dependants
Text of provision
A foreign national is a member of the country of asylum class if they have been determined by an officer to be in need of resettlement because
(a) they are outside all of their countries of nationality and habitual residence; and
(b) they have been, and continue to be, seriously and personally affected by civil war, armed conflict or massive violation of human rights in each of those countries.
Plain English
Regulation 147 provides that a family member who was a non-accompanying dependant at the time of a principal applicant's immigration proceeding — and who was not examined as part of that application — is permanently excluded from membership in the family class.
This rule applies to dependants who were not disclosed by the principal applicant and who, had they been disclosed, could have been included in the principal applicant's application.
Practical effect
The regulation 147 exclusion is one of the harshest rules in immigration law. It punishes omissions — intentional or inadvertent — at the time of a previous immigration application by permanently barring the non-disclosed dependent from family class sponsorship. The bar applies even where the omission was innocent (e.g., a newly born child after the initial application, or a child the applicant did not know existed). The only recourse may be an H&C application under s 25 of IRPA, which is discretionary and not guaranteed. Practitioners must always advise clients to disclose all family members, even if they are not accompanying, to avoid triggering this exclusion.