Category Archives: Family Class

More Families to Reunite in Canada

September 5, 2018 nkic

Government of Canada to improve application intake system and accept more sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents

August 20, 2018 – Surrey, BC – To help reunite even more parents and grandparents with their families in Canada, today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that the Government of Canada will accept up to 20 000 applications for the sponsorship of parents and grandparents, in 2019. This is 4 times the number of applications accepted when the program reopened in 2014, when the cap was set at 5000 applications.

This decision to increase the number of applications that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will accept for processing is a result of continually high demand in the Parents and Grandparents (PGP) Program and the fact that we have significantly reduced the inventory of applications. The inventory has dropped from a peak of 167 000 people, in 2011, to just under 26 000 people, in June 2018.

After increasing the 2018 cap to 17 000 complete applications, IRCC sent a second round of invitations to randomly selected potential sponsors who submitted an Interest to Sponsor form in early 2018. Those invited to the second round have until October 5, 2018, to submit a complete application.

Minister Hussen also announced that, as a result of listening to stakeholders and closely examining the PGP Program, the government is making further changes to the application intake process that will streamline access to the program and improve client experience.

Using this modified intake process will give the government more flexibility in the application process, ensuring that we receive as many applications as possible.

In 2019, as in previous years, the Interest to Sponsor form will be available online, at the beginning of the year, so eligible potential sponsors can let IRCC know they wish to sponsor their parents and grandparents to come to Canada. However, instead of randomly selecting the sponsors to apply, we will invite them to submit an application to sponsor their parents and grandparents based on the order in which we receive their Interest to Sponsor forms. This process will continue until we reach the 2019 cap of 20 000 complete applications.

Further details of these improvements to the system will be announced this fall.

Quick facts

IRCC will accept for processing 17 000 applications for sponsorship of parents and grandparents, in 2018, and 20 000 applications, in 2019.
The number of parents and grandparents to be admitted to Canada in the coming years are as follows:
- In 2018, the government plans to admit 20 000 parents and grandparents in its immigration levels plan.
- Parents and grandparents admission levels will increase to 20 500, in 2019, and 21 000, in 2020.

Please Contact Us for more information.

Family Class

New Round of Invitations to Sponsor Parents and Grandparents

September 5, 2018 nkic

Family reunification is a top immigration priority for the Government of Canada. In order to meet high demand for the parents and grandparents sponsorship program, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will send a second round of invitations this week to additional potential sponsors who completed an Interest to Sponsor form earlier this year.

At the beginning of 2018, interested potential sponsors were given 30 days to fill out and submit an online Interest to Sponsor form, letting IRCC know they wanted to sponsor their parents or grandparents to come to Canada. On February 1, when the form closed, IRCC reviewed the submissions, removed any duplicates and created a randomized list of interested potential sponsors. IRCC then selected a first round of potential sponsors from this list.

Those chosen in the first round were sent invitations to submit an application the week of March 19, 2018, and received reminder emails the weeks of May 7 and May 14, 2018 to ensure that IRCC received their complete application by May 25, 2018.

For the additional invitations, IRCC will use the same randomized list to invite additional potential sponsors to submit an application. These additional potential sponsors will be given 60 calendar days to send in an application to sponsor their parents and grandparents.

It is important to note the following:

Invitations will be sent to potential sponsors beginning on July 31, 2018.
This process will continue over a few days. Anyone who submitted an Interest to Sponsor form in 2018 but has not yet received an invitation is encouraged to check their email and junk mail carefully throughout the week.
Only those who have been randomly selected to submit an application will receive an email.

As of July 31, potential sponsors can confirm whether or not they have been selected by looking up their unique Confirmation Number to compare it with the list of numbers that were randomly selected:

If their number appears, they have been invited to submit their sponsorship application.
If their number doesn’t appear, they have not been selected.

If potential sponsors are not sure what their unique confirmation number is, and want to confirm whether or not they were selected to submit an application, they can:

complete the Check If You Were Selected web form. We’ll respond to potential sponsors within 10 business days to let them know if they were selected or not.

Those who have a child or grandchild in Canada, and who wish to spend an extended period of time with their families in Canada, also have the option to apply for the parent and grandparent super visa, whether they are being sponsored for permanent residence or not. The super visa offers holders the option of staying in Canada for up to 2 years during each visit, whereas the regular visa provides a 6-month maximum.

Please Contact Us for more information

Family Class, News

Medical Inadmissibility For Persons With Disabilities Updates

April 16, 2018 nkic

One of the Government of Canada’s priorities is to ensure greater accessibility and opportunities for Canadians with disabilities. Today’s announcement by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Ahmed Hussen of changes to the medical inadmissibility provision of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act ensures that our immigration policies better align with Canadian values and reflect the importance that the Government places on the inclusion of persons with disabilities.

Under the 40-year-old policy, applicants could be found medically inadmissible to Canada based on a set of criteria out of step with a 21^st century approach to persons with disabilities. Most of those affected are individuals who would otherwise be approved in the economic immigration class, and selected for the benefit their skills will bring to the Canadian economy.

While the number of refusals under this provision was not high, it resulted in cases where applicants or their children were refused despite the fact their health condition or disability was one readily accommodated in Canadian society.

The new policy on medical inadmissibility strikes a balance between protecting publicly funded health and social services and updating the policy to bring it in line with current views on the inclusion of persons with disabilities. The changes include:

increasing the cost threshold for medical inadmissibility to 3 times the previous level, and
amending the definition of social services by removing references to special education, social and vocational rehabilitation services and personal support services.

Increasing the cost threshold will facilitate immigration for applicants with health conditions that typically require a limited range of health and social services and have relatively low health and social services costs. It is expected that this would dispense with a majority of the medical inadmissibility cases seen in Canada today.

Amending the definition of social services will bring the policy in line with Canadian values on supporting the participation of persons with disabilities in society, while continuing to protect publicly funded health and social services. This would also benefit applicants with intellectual disabilities, applicants with hearing or visual impairments, and others.

The Government has been reviewing all elements of the medical inadmissibility provisions since 2016. This included meetings with provincial and territorial governments, and discussions with stakeholders.

In addition, the issue was studied by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, which recommended eliminating the policy. Going forward, the Government agrees with the Standing Committee’s recommendation to eliminate the policy and will collaborate with provinces and territories towards its full elimination.

Please Contact Us for more information.

Family Class, News

Updated Application Kit for Spousal Sponsorship

February 22, 2018 nkic

Family reunification is a key immigration priority for the Government of Canada, and IRCC continues to improve the processes and procedures to help families reunite in Canada more quickly and easily.

That’s why they have now once again updated the guides and checklists, as well as some procedures, for the spousal sponsorship program. The changes reflect the Department’s ongoing commitment to respond to clients’ needs and make improvements to client service and program delivery where possible.

Since launching the spousal application package in December 2016, IRCC has been listening to your feedback. Based on what they heard, they have further improved the:

Basic Guide,
Complete Guide,
Document checklists (one each for spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, and dependent child), and
Order in which certain required documents must be submitted to us.

Notably, spousal applicants will now be asked to submit their Schedule A – Background/Declaration (IMM 5669) form and police certificates as part of their initial paper application package, instead of later in the application process, as was previously required. This will help us process applications even more quickly and efficiently and avoid unnecessary delays.

Applicants are still encouraged to link their applications to an online account to communicate quickly and securely with us, get medical instructions as soon as they are issued, receive and respond to request letters quickly, and get application updates online. However, this can be done at any time during the processing of the application.

The checklists and guides replace the ones that were made available on this website in June 2017 (and which received a minor update in October 2017 to reflect the change to the age limit for dependent children).

Although IRCC has changed the checklists and the placement of some forms within the application process, the forms themselves have not changed as part of this update.

If you have been filling out an application using the previous version of the checklists (identified in the bottom left hand corner by version code 10-2017), IRCC will still accept your application using that previous version until March 15, 2018. However, they encourage you to use the new checklist, guides and processes right away.

Please Contact Us form further information.

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Category Archives: Family Class

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