(Ottawa) Canada will not accept new permanent residence sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents until further notice, according to a ministerial directive.
Posted at 7:35 p.m.
David Baxter
The Canadian Press
The directive published in the Canada Gazette states that the government remains committed to family reunification, but will focus on processing applications received last year.
According to the directive, Immigration Minister Marc Miller believes this will “best support” the government’s objectives on immigration and family reunification.
Other immigration flows have also seen new sponsorships suspended in order to help clear the existing backlog.
As part of the government’s immigration levels plan, which calls for an overall reduction in immigration over the next three years, the aim is to admit more than 24,000 people through the parents and children stream. grandparents this year.
The new directive indicates that a maximum of 15,000 applications submitted in 2024 under the family reunification program will be processed.
Under the Parents and Grandparents Program, 35,700 randomly selected individuals were invited to submit applications in 2024, with the goal of accepting 20,500.
According to the 2024 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, tabled by Mr. Miller, there were more than 40,000 permanent residence sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents in the inventory at the end of 2023.
The average processing time for a sponsorship application was 24 months, according to the report.
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