GOVERNMENT OF CANADA TO TEMPORARILY STOP ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS TO SPONSOR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS; INTRODUCES "SUPERVISAS"

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Created on Monday, 23 January 2012 17:28

 November 4, 2011

The Government of Canada announced today a new plan that, according to Canada’s Immigration Minister, is aimed to reduce lengthy wait times and reduce the backlog of applications for parental and grand-parental sponsorship. This plan is being referred to as “Phase I of the Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification.”

Currently, more than 165,000 parents and grandparents who have applied to become permanent residents of Canada are still waiting for a final decision. Each year, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) receives applications for sponsorship of nearly 38,000 parents and grandparents, a number that will only continue to expand if no action is taken. As indicated in last week’s blog post, however, the pile of applications received from Canadian citizens and permanent residents seeking to sponsor their parents and grandparents has only continued to grow as, in the past two years, processing times have more than doubled.

As part of this plan, the Government pledges to carry out the following four actions:

• More sponsorhsip applications under this category will be assessed in 2012 as the Government plans to admit nearly 60% more sponsored parents and grandparents next year,
  from nearly 15,500 in 2010 to 25,000 in 2012.

• The government is introducing the new “Parent and Grandparent Super Visa,” which will be valid for up to 10 years. The multiple-entry visa will allow an applicant to remain in Canada for up to 24 months at a time without the need for renewal of their status. The Parent and Grandparent Super Visa will come into effect on December 1, 2011, and CIC will be able to issue the visas, on average, within eight weeks of the application. While this will enable parents and grandparents to enter Canada more quickly, the SuperVisa will only grant them benefits of a visitor – Parent and Grandparent Super Visa applicants will not be entitled access to the Canadian healthcare system and, as a condition to obtaining the visa, all applicants will be required to obtain private Canadian health-care insurance for their stay in Canada.

• The government will consult Canadians on how to redesign the parents and grandparents program to ensure that it is sustainable in the future. The redesigned program must avoid future large backlogs and be sensitive to fiscal constraints.

• Effective tomorrow, November 5, 2011, Citizenship and Immigration will no longer accept any
  applications to sponsor parents or grandparents. This moratorium on such sponsorship applications will be in effect for the next 24 months.

For further details on this announcement or information on how to sponsor a member of the Family Class to Canada, please contact the Bomza Law Group.