Canada places a high value on family identity and hence offers a variety of services for family members. These programs are classified as family sponsorship programs, and in order to sponsor a family member or close relatives, you must be at least 18 years old and a Canada PR holder or a Canadian citizen. One must be financially capable of supporting the sponsored relatives and must not be on social assistance. An eligible person may sponsor any of the following persons for permanent residence in Canada: parents, spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, children, dependent children, grandparents, an orphaned grandchild, siblings, nieces, nephews, and in unusual situations any other related. This family sponsorship news is really beneficial for parents and grandparents so check out the changes in the program mentioned below.
On October 11, 2022, on behalf of the Immigration Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, and Canada (IRCC) Sean Fraser, the Member of Parliament Shafqat Ali and Sonia Sidhu stated that Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) would continue to reconnect families by accepting up to 15,000 applications for sponsorship under the Parents and Grandparents Program this year. This week, IRCC will begin mailing invitations to apply to 23,100 interested potential sponsors which are enough to ensure that Canada obtains the 15,000 applications they need. They also mentioned that the invitations will be sent out over the next two weeks.
As the member of parliament of Brampton South, Sonia Sidhu said, “Family reunification is important to Canadians and plays a key role in our immigration system.”
She also stated how reconnecting parents and grandparents with their families in Canada will benefit Canadian communities.
Because there are still a number of Interest to Sponsor forms in the pool of submissions from 2020, IRCC will issue Invitations to Apply to randomly chosen potential sponsors from that pool rather than issuing new “Interest to Sponsor” forms. This is the same strategy used for the 2021 intake. Thus, if you submitted an Interest to Sponsor form in 2020 but did not get an invitation to apply in January 2021 or September 2021, then you should verify the email address you provided at the time of the application.
Changes in parents’ and grandparents’ sponsorship
- As a result of financial challenges in the pandemic, IRCC will once again adopt reduced income requirements for parent and grandparent sponsorship. With that regular Employment Insurance benefits and temporary COVID-19 benefits (such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit) will be permitted to be counted against the sponsor’s income.
- There is also a bit of enhancement in the super visa, which will go into effect in the year 2022. Now super visa holders can stay in Canada for up to 5 years at a time, with the opportunity to extend their stay by up to 2 years without leaving the country.
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