These Instructions are given, pursuant to section 87.3 and subsections 92(1.1) and (2) of the Act, by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration as, in the opinion of the Minister, these Instructions will best support the attainment of the immigration goals established by the Government of Canada.

These temporary instructions are intended to ensure that as of January 1, 2020, no permanent resident visa applications made by parents or grandparents of a sponsor and no sponsorship applications made in relation to those applications are accepted for processing until further Instructions are issued.

These instructions will allow the Department sufficient time to complete the development of a new application intake management process for the parents and grandparents sponsorship program, to be implemented in 2020. The Minister intends to issue further Instructions relating to the intake management process for the parents and grandparents program by April 1, 2020, at the latest.

Until the new intake management process is implemented, the Department will not accept any new applications. This will ensure that all interested sponsors have the same opportunity to submit an interest to sponsor form, and a fair chance to be invited to apply.

Scope

These Instructions apply to applications for a permanent resident visa of sponsors’ parents or grandparents made under the Family Class, referred to in paragraphs 117(1)(c) and (d) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (Regulations), respectively, as well as to sponsorship applications made in relation to those applications.

Number of applications to be accepted for processing

No new sponsorship applications and no related applications for a permanent resident visa made by sponsors’ parents or grandparents under the Family Class are accepted for processing until further Instructions are issued.

Humanitarian and compassionate requests

A request made under subsection 25(1) of the Act from outside Canada and that accompanies an application that was not accepted for processing under these Instructions will not be processed.

Disposition of applications

Any sponsorship application or related application for a permanent resident visa, made by a sponsor’s parents or grandparents under the Family Class that is not accepted for processing under these Instructions will be returned.

Coming into effect

These Instructions take effect on January 1, 2020.

Please Contact Us for more information.

A new 5-year pilot program has been put in place through the Ministerial Instructions with respect to the Rural and Northern Community Immigration Class published in the Canada Gazette. The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) Program will help smaller rural and northern communities to attract, integrate and retain foreign skilled workers meeting their economic development and labour market needs.

The pilot will operate in the following 11 communities: Thunder Bay (ON), Sault Ste. Marie (ON), Sudbury (ON), Timmins (ON), North Bay (ON), Gretna–Rhineland–Altona–Plum Coulee (MB), Brandon (MB), Moose Jaw (SK), Claresholm (AB), West Kootenay (BC), and Vernon (BC).

The Ministerial Instructions have been in effect since September 1, 2019, and authorize the first cohort of community partners to begin recommending candidates as of November 1, 2019, and the second cohort as of January 1, 2020. Community partners will begin making recommendations once they have established all necessary processes to assess candidates and have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IRCC, with the first recommendations expected in December 2019. Candidates recommended by community partners will then submit applications for permanent residence under this pilot to IRCC.

Please Contact Us for more information.

People who have received protected person status in Canada often have dependent family members abroad who are living in difficult conditions. When they apply for permanent residency, there are challenges for migration officers, as it’s often difficult to reach their family members.

To address these challenges, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has launched 2 new initiatives: a centralized intake of all permanent resident applications for protected persons and their dependent family members abroad, and a 1-year Centralized Concurrent Processing Pilot.

Centralized intake

Protected persons who have dependent family members abroad can now submit a permanent residence application for themselves and their family members simultaneously at a single location, the IRCC Case Processing Centre in Mississauga.

The new centralized process will allow the protected person in Canada to communicate with IRCC on behalf of their family.

Centralized Concurrent Processing Pilot

Through the Centralized Concurrent Processing Pilot, the IRCC Case Processing Centre in Mississauga will process the applications for permanent residency of both the protected person and their overseas dependent family members.

Family members must live in countries within the areas of responsibility for the migration offices participating in the pilot: Bogota, Buenos Aires, Kingston (Jamaica), Lima, London, Nairobi, Mexico City, Port of Spain and Sao Paulo.

Protected persons who submit an application for permanent resident status on or after December 4, 2019, and whose dependent family members abroad are in one of the selected regions, will be advised if they are eligible for the pilot project.

Applicants must still meet all eligibility and admissibility requirements including medical screening and security and criminality checks.

Please Contact Us for more information.

With the rollout of the in-Canada enrolment network on December 3, 2019, the following note has been removed from the instructions:

Note: There is a temporary public policy exemption for in-Canada applicants. More specifically, foreign nationals who are eligible to apply from within Canada would normally provide their biometrics as part of an application or request for

• a temporary resident visa (TRV)
• a work permit or study permit
• a temporary resident permit
• permanent residence

However, since there is currently no biometric service delivery network within Canada, these applicants are exempt from the biometrics requirement until such time as the public policy is lifted. Applicants who apply from within Canada, but whose applications are not eligible to be processed from within Canada, are not covered under this public policy exemption. Those applicants are required to leave Canada in order to submit their biometrics as part of their application.

Starting December 3, 2019, foreign nationals applying from within Canada to extend or renew their visitor visa, work permit or study permit or applying for temporary or permanent residence must provide biometrics.

In addition, the following clarification has been added about biometrics collection:

Service Canada collects biometrics in Canada on behalf of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Applicants who receive a biometrics instruction letter can give their biometrics at any of the 58 designated Service Canada locations across the country.

To give biometrics in Canada, applicants will need to book an appointment in advance through an online appointment booking tool at canada.ca/service-canada-appointment.

Applicants, including those in Canada who will be travelling outside the country, can also give their biometrics at a visa application centre (VAC) or an application support center in the United States.

Please Contact Us for more information.