Note: Humanitarian visas can be granted by the visa-issuing authority of the State in the applicant’s country of origin or in a country of destination, and exceptionally also at the border of the visa-issuing State or to persons who are already within the State.

Beyond granting legal access to and temporary stay in the State, humanitarian visas rarely provide the person with any further entitlement to protection or services. Normally, the immigration or asylum status of a person with a valid humanitarian visa needs to be established upon arrival in the visa‐issuing State, including, where applicable, through asylum procedures or procedures for other statuses.

Humanitarian visas can facilitate the international travel of asylum seekers or other migrants in vulnerable situations, often as a part of, among others, humanitarian admission, humanitarian corridors, family reunification, medical evacuations and other immigration programmes and practices.

While the majority of States issue humanitarian visas on various international protection grounds (refugee status, subsidiary protection status or others), some States also use humanitarian visas to enable immigration or stay within a country to persons in situations of high vulnerability and/or with special/humanitarian protection needs, including but not limited to: Victims of violations of human rights in the country of origin (Ley No. 761[2011] (Nicaragua), Art. 220); Victims of certain particularly heinous crimes in the country of destination (such as rape, torture, trafficking, female genital mutilation and others,  e.g.,  Immigration and  Nationality  Act H [1965] (United States) 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(15)(U), as amended by Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, Sec. 1513(a)‐(c))); or Victims of hate crimes (Código de Extranjería (Spain), Art. 126.1).

Humanitarian visas can also be issued in case of: Natural disasters (Lei No. 13.445 [2017] (Brazil), Art. 14.III, §3°); Economic hardships in one’s country of origin (e.g. Peruvian Visas to Venezuelans, Decreto Supremo Nº 002‐2017‐IN (Peru)); Serious illnesses and lack of adequate treatment in the country of origin (Loi du 15 Décembre 1980 sur l’accès au territoire, le séjour, l’établissement et l’éloignement des étrangers (Belgium), Art. 9ter, para. 1); Individual vulnerabilities (e.g. 5 Decreto No. 37112‐G [2012]: Reglamento de Extranjería (Costa Rica), Arts 2, 135 and 136; and Decreto Ejecutivo No. 320 [2008] (Panama), Arts 171 and 172).

Many other States do not specifically define the grounds to issue humanitarian visas and leave the decision to grant them discretionary, often to ensure compliance with international law obligations or to serve national  interests  (e.g  Regulation  (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (European Union), Art. 25, para. 1(a); Aliens Act (2005: 716) (Sweden), Chapter 3, Section 4; Ley de migraciones No. 25.871 [2003] (Argentina), Art. 34).

Generally, the grounds to issue humanitarian visas are very broadly defined in national legislation which leaves a wide discretion to the authorities who are responsible for issuing the visa. This allows for flexibility and enables an individual determination. However, it also limits the possibility of judicial review, and renders the system largely unpredictable.

See also international protection, humanitarian admission, pathways for migrants in vulnerable situations