A method for facilitating a handover of a communication device (202) active on a first radio access network (210) to a second radio access network (206) comprises while the communication device is active on the first radio access network (210), detecting (502) a target access node (216) in the second radio access network for communication with the communication device, deciding (540) to handover the communication device from the first radio access network to the detected target access node, in response to a decision to handover and prior to handing over, initiating (506) by the communication device an access control process to authenticate and authorize the communication device for access to the second radio access network, including sending by the communication device a handover request message via the first radio access network to an application server (222) communicably coupled to the first and second radio access networks to initiate the access control process, and after the communication device is authenticated and authorized to access the second radio access network while the communication device is still active on the first radio access network, initiating (510) communication between the communication device and the detected target access node in the second radio access network and handing over the communication device from the first radio access network to the detected target access node.