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If you are in immediate danger, call 911. It is free from any phone in Canada, and you need no immigration status to call it.
Some people in Canada hold their status through somebody else: a spouse, the partner who sponsored them, or an employer whose name is printed on their work permit. When that person becomes abusive, the fear is usually the same one: if I leave, I lose everything. Canada has measures built for exactly this, so a person can leave and still be here lawfully.
Everything here is free to ask for, and our report does not assess any of it. If someone can see what you are reading, note that IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the department deciding immigration matters) puts a quick exit button on its family violence pages and explains how to clear your browsing history.
This page is for anyone in Canada whose status depends on, or is controlled by, an abusive spouse, partner, sponsor or employer, and for anyone helping them. It cannot say what will happen in your case; only IRCC decides that.
A temporary resident permit (a TRP) lets someone stay in Canada temporarily and lawfully. IRCC describes the family violence version as giving you "temporary resident status in Canada, so you can escape your situation and prepare for your next steps" (IRCC: immigration options for victims of family violence).
IRCC's page describes it for a person physically in Canada experiencing abuse or neglect from a spouse or common-law partner, where their permanent residence (PR) depends on staying in that relationship. It also covers someone left without valid status by that situation.
According to that page, a first family violence TRP can be issued for at least 12 months. While you hold it you can apply for a fee-exempt work permit or study permit, so you can earn or study in your own right, and you get health coverage through the Interim Federal Health Program, for people not yet covered by a province. You can ask for it for your children too, if they are in Canada without temporary resident status.
Nothing. IRCC's page states that you do not pay fees for your first family violence TRP, or for a new one if you apply again, and no biometrics fees either (the fingerprints and photo IRCC usually collects). The exemption is not a favour an officer grants: it is set out in a published public policy on application fees for victims of family violence.
No. IRCC's page says: "In Canada, you do not have to testify against your abuser."
Call IRCC's Client Support Centre on 1-888-242-2100 and choose the option for victims of abuse and forced marriage, which reaches an agent (IRCC: help for spouses or partners who are victims of abuse). The line is open Monday to Friday, and a web form is available at any hour. Applications go to IRCC's Vulnerable Persons Unit, and the page above gives the forms and the address.
No, and IRCC says so plainly: "You don't have to stay in an abusive relationship to keep your status in Canada." Canada once required some sponsored permanent residents to live with their sponsor, and IRCC's page states that "that condition no longer exists, and your status no longer depends on you living with your sponsor."
One more point, often used as a threat. A sponsor signs an undertaking: a promise to the government to support the person they sponsor for three years. IRCC states that they stay responsible "for the entire undertaking period, even if your relationship with the people you're sponsoring changes", and that it cannot be cancelled once that person becomes a permanent resident (IRCC: what it means to be a sponsor). The obligation is theirs, not yours; our guide to sponsoring a spouse or partner for Canada explains how sponsorship works.
If your temporary status has expired, IRCC's abuse page says you may be able to restore it, or apply for a permit to stay temporarily. Ask on the number above rather than assuming it is too late.
If your work permit names one employer, leaving that job normally costs you your right to work, so this permit exists to spare you that choice. IRCC describes it as helping you "leave an abusive situation to find a new job" (IRCC: open work permit for vulnerable workers).
IRCC's eligibility page sets out three things: you are in Canada, you are being abused or at risk of abuse in relation to your job in Canada, and you hold a valid employer-specific work permit naming your employer, or applied to extend it before it expired and are waiting for a decision (IRCC: who can apply).
IRCC's definition is broad: abuse is "any behaviour that scares, controls or isolates you", grouped as physical, sexual, psychological and financial abuse, and reprisal. Examples include unsafe or unsanitary living conditions in employer-provided housing, and "any disciplinary measure, demotion, dismissal or threat" aimed at you for reporting a problem.
An open work permit lets you work for almost any employer in Canada, rather than the one named on your current permit. IRCC excludes employers found ineligible for breaking the rules, and a few others named on its page, and it publishes fact sheets on this permit in nine languages, including Hindi and Punjabi.
Sometimes, yes. A humanitarian and compassionate application (an H&C) asks IRCC to let someone become a permanent resident though they would not normally qualify. IRCC weighs how settled they are in Canada, their family ties here, the best interests of any children involved, and "what could happen to you if we do not grant the request" (IRCC: humanitarian and compassionate grounds).
Three limits matter. An H&C does not assess risk factors such as persecution, risk to life, or cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. You cannot apply while a refugee claim is waiting, or in general within 12 months of a negative refugee board decision, with exceptions. And applying does not stop or delay a removal. Our post on Canada's refugee and humanitarian routes explains all of that.
Only do what is safe. If you can, keep copies of your passport, your permit or visa, your relationship documents, and anything showing what happened: a police report, a note from a doctor or counsellor, messages, or pay records if the abuse is at work. Somewhere the other person cannot reach, with a friend, a shelter worker or a settlement agency, is safer than home.
Nothing on IRCC's pages asks your sponsor or employer to sign or agree to anything, and you can call the support line with questions first. Be careful of anyone offering to arrange this for a fee: these measures are free, and a promise of a guaranteed outcome is a warning sign, as our guide to spotting immigration scams explains. If you are in New Zealand rather than Canada, see our post on New Zealand's family violence and exploitation visas.
Our questionnaire and report assess Canada's ordinary work, study, family and business routes. They do not assess the family violence permit, the open work permit for vulnerable workers, or an H&C, and no online tool should: these turn on evidence of what happened to you and on an officer's judgement, which only IRCC can weigh.
IRCC's page for victims of family violence and its Client Support Centre on 1-888-242-2100 (choose the option for victims of abuse and forced marriage), your province's legal aid plan (for example Legal Aid Ontario's immigration and refugee service), the shelters and provincial helplines on ShelterSafe, and the settlement agencies listed in IRCC's free newcomer services finder can help you with this at no cost, as will 2-1-1, the line IRCC names for community, social and health services. You do not need to pay anyone to ask for the protections on this page.
Before you pay anyone for immigration advice, ask for their licence or registration number and check it with the regulator for the country you are applying to. IRCC explains who may be paid to represent you.
Our free questionnaire and our full report do not assess the routes on this page. We wrote it because people arrive asking about them, and everything here is free to read.