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