Did you know that Canada provides Canadian citizens and permanent residents with the opportunity to apply to sponsor their relatives from abroad to come to Canada? Once sponsored to Canada, these relatives – which include spouses, parents or grandparents – are permanent residents themselves.
The Parent and Grandparent sponsorship program was suspended a while ago because the immensely popular program had so many backlogged unprocessed applications. The government has managed to get rid of much of this backlog, and has decided to reopen the program to new applications in January of 2014.
If you want to bring your parents or grandparents to Canada, read on because there will be come changes to the program that could affect your changes of being accepted as a sponsor.
Changes to the parents and grandparents sponsorship program
One of the most significant changes to the parent and grandparent sponsorship program that will affect new applications as well as make some would-be sponsors ineligible for the program is that the income requirements for sponsors will be 30 per cent higher than they already are. In addition, applicants for sponsorship will now have to be able to financially support their relatives for 20 years, not 10 like it is now.
Another key change is that during 2014, the government expects to admit only 5,000 parents and grandparents from new applications, while keeping admissions from older applications high. This means that anyone who wants to sponsor a parent or a grandparent in 2014 will have to act extremely quickly to ensure they can submit their application when the applications open.
Do you want to sponsor your parents and grandparents to come to Canada? We’re here to help you. Give us a call at the phone number above or send us an email for assistance.
UPDATE: The above is an archived article. Learn more about the newest information regarding the Super Visa.
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
