The IRCC recognizes the importance of connecting families, and they understand that family reunification is a important part of Canadian immigration. In an effort to manage and maintain all of the applicants that are wanting to come to Canada the minister of the IRCC, Honorable John McCallum has publicized a new change for sponsorship, and how the application process for the Parent and Grandparent Program (PGP) will change as of January 2017.
There is now an online interest form that needs to be filled out. It is going to be available as of January, 3rd 2016, applicants have 30 days to complete this form stating what their interests are. Once it has been submitted the applicants are put into a pool, and after the 30 days is over the IRCC will draw randomly 10,000 people and will invite them to send their application package in to be reviewed.
This differs from the older system where submitting your application was a first come, first serve basis. An applicant would fill out a sponsorship kit and then submit it and the supporting documents to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga, Ontario to be screened. Once it is processed and screened the application is then sent to the visa office where the parents or grandparents reside. There once again is a review process, and a possible interview regarding the application. The next step that would occur is that you are notified that you have been granted status and this temporary visa will allow your family member access to Canada for up to two years. With the recent changes before you even can apply, you must be selected from the pool at random draw.
You might be wondering why this is such a change to immigration, it seems like there is just one more step being added to the process. However, there is just a little bit more, with this change it is eliminating those who are well prepared and ready to submit right away. In the previous method of applying, it was first come first serve; if you were one of the first 5,000 applicants to submit your information to the Processing Centre then your application will be processed in the order it came in, and there was a cap at 5,000 applications. With the new change, even if you were the first person to submit an application, you might not get picked. Sure, the CIC has bumped up the application acceptance number to 10,000 applicants but is this really going to be beneficial to those who are applying? What about those who are prompt and submit right away, but are not part of the random draw?
If you are lucky enough to win the draw, don’t take a chance! Hire Bright Immigration to help you achieve success in your application for Parent and Grandparents Sponsorship!