IRCC approved 15,000 completed family sponsorship applications in 2022

Family reunification is an essential part of Canada's immigration system that will make tremendous contributions to the country's community. As a result, the Canadian Government has demonstrated a remarkable commitment to family reunification while strengthening its immigration system.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will accept up to 15,000 complete sponsorship applications in 2022 under the Parents and Grandparents Program. In mid October 2022, IRCC began sending out invitations to apply to 23,100 interested potential sponsors - enough to ensure that they received a goal of 15,000 applications. Invitations were sent out within 2 weeks.

The recipients of the invitation to apply included potential sponsors who were randomly selected by IRCC from a pool of submissions from 2020 instead of opening a new sponsorship interest form. This is the same approach taken for the 2021 intake. Anyone who submitted a sponsor interest form in 2020 but did not receive an invitation to apply by January 2021 or September 2021 should check the email account you provided when submitting your interest.

Applications to apply for sponsorship under this Program are made electronically through the IRCC's Permanent Residence Portal or the Representative Permanent Residence Portal. This form helps to modernize Canada's immigration system and speed up and simplify the sponsorship application process.

Recognizing that many potential sponsors may have experienced financial hardship in recent years because of the pandemic, IRCC will use the lower income requirement of parents and grandparents. For tax years 2020 and 2021, the income requirement for sponsors will be minimum required income, instead of minimum required income plus 30% plus regular Employment Insurance benefits. and temporary COVID-19 benefits (such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit) will be counted towards the sponsor's income. These measures will ensure that sponsors and applicants are not unjustly penalized for the temporary loss of their sponsor's income during the pandemic.

At the same time, those who want to reunite with their parents and grandparents in Canada but are not invited to apply for sponsorship in 2022, can consider having their parents or grandparents apply for a Super Visa, a multiple-entry visa with a validity of 10 five. Improvements to the super visa are made in the summer of 2022, allowing super visa holders to stay in Canada for up to 5 years at a time, with the option to extend their visit for up to 2 years each. times without leaving the country. These changes make it easier for Canadian citizens and permanent residents to reunite with their parents and grandparents in Canada for a longer period of time.

From: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2022/10/reuniting-families-across-the-country.html