Family Sponsorship

On October 29, 2016, the government of Canada released a draft of a change to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), which would repeal the conditional permanent residence regulatory provisions for certain sponsored spouses and common law partners. If approved, the change is expected to come into force in spring 2017.

The Government of Canada has put in place a bar on Spousal sponsorship. Regulatory changes now in force mean sponsored spouses or partners will have to wait five years from the day they are granted permanent residence status in Canada to sponsor a new spouse/partner. Under the new proposal, a spouse/partner being sponsored by a Canadian or Permanet resident would be required to live together with their sponsor in a legitimate relationship for two years following receipt of their permanet resident status in Canada.

Business applications: Over 800,000

Invitations to apply will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis next year Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says it will scrap its controversial randomized selection process for its Parents and Grandparents Program in 2019 and revert to a first-come, first-served approach to inviting interested sponsors to apply.

The Canadian Immigration minister has approved an extension its workpermit pilot project for spouses and common-law partners applying for Canadian immigration. The pilot program, first launched in December 2014, allows spouses and common-law partners of Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are currently being sponsored on an application for permanent residence through this class to work in Canada during the processing of the application.

Spouses, Common-Law, and Conjugal Partners

The processing times for certain countries, including the time it takes to make the initial assessment of the sponsor, are now less than one year. These countries include France, Australia, Spain, Tunisia, Belgium, Algeria, Morocco, New Zealand, Peru, Brazil, Iran, Israel, Portugal, Poland, Taiwan, Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine, and Switzerland. For many other countries, the processing time is around one year or slightly longer.

Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has put into practice new procedures intended to accelerate family reunification, ensuring that dependants and spouses who may not otherwise be eligible to come to Canada, now have a pathway to reunite with their families.

When you apply for immigration to IRCC, you usually have to pay an application fee for yourself, and any dependents coming with you to Canada such as your spouse or common-law partner, and your children. You also have to pay a right of permanent residence fee for yourself and your partner. Dependent children are exempt from this fee.

A majority of Canadians continue to hold positive views on key aspects of immigration and few see immigrants and refugees as a pressing national concern, a new Environics Institute survey has found.

When Canada’s Minister of Immigration Ahmed Hussen stood before the gathered press in Toronto last week to reveal and explain the government’s new Multi- year immigration plan, he was keen to point out that the majority of the nearly one million permanent residents to be admitted to Canada over the next three years would be economic migrants. The next largest broad category, however, will be newcomers who arrive under the family class programs.

The demand for sponsoring parents and grandparents significantly exceeds Canada’s available admission targets.

Inland spousal sponsorship applicants can work in Canada while their permanent resident applications are being processed.

IRCC requires proof that your relationship is genuine in order to sponsor your spouse or partner for Canadian immigration.

Family class sponsorship enables family members who live in different countries to be reunited and live together in Canada.

What you need to know about medical inadmissibility when applying to sponsor your parents or grandparents.

If you have a parent or grandparent abroad with whom you wish to have regular visits or extended stays, the Super Visa may be an option for your family.

You can claim Canadian citizenship at any time of your life and there is no age restriction on when you can submit your application.

There are significant benefits to being a Canadian citizen.

If you have a Canadian parent, you may be a Canadian citizen and eligible for a Canadian passport.

January has typically marked the opening of the window for immigrants to express their interest in sponsoring family under Canada’s Parents and Grandparents Program, or PGP.