IRCC Parent's Sponsorship Program Update 2018

[Wonderland_1010]

Government of Canada to improve application intake system and accept more sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents
August 20, 2018 – Surrey, BC – To help reunite even more parents and grandparents with their families in Canada, today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that the Government of Canada will accept up to 20 000 applications for the sponsorship of parents and grandparents, in 2019. This is 4 times the number of applications accepted when the program reopened in 2014, when the cap was set at 5000 applications.

This decision to increase the number of applications that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will accept for processing is a result of continually high demand in the Parents and Grandparents (PGP) Program and the fact that we have significantly reduced the inventory of applications. The inventory has dropped from a peak of 167 000 people, in 2011, to just under 26 000 people, in June 2018.

After increasing the 2018 cap to 17 000 complete applications, IRCC sent a second round of invitations to randomly selected potential sponsors who submitted an Interest to Sponsor form in early 2018. Those invited to the second round have until October 5, 2018, to submit a complete application.

Minister Hussen also announced that, as a result of listening to stakeholders and closely examining the PGP Program, the government is making further changes to the application intake process that will streamline access to the program and improve client experience.

Using this modified intake process will give the government more flexibility in the application process, ensuring that we receive as many applications as possible.

In 2019, as in previous years, the Interest to Sponsor form will be available online, at the beginning of the year, so eligible potential sponsors can let IRCC know they wish to sponsor their parents and grandparents to come to Canada. However, instead of randomly selecting the sponsors to apply, we will invite them to submit an application to sponsor their parents and grandparents based on the order in which we receive their Interest to Sponsor forms. This process will continue until we reach the 2019 cap of 20 000 complete applications.

Further details of these improvements to the system will be announced this fall.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2018/08/more-families-to-reunite-in-canada.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=PGP

 

[Wonderland_1010]

Question

If the cap for 2019 is reached, would IRCC close the stream again in order to complete the processing of the applications received?

 

[YVR123]

Question

If the cap for 2019 is reached, would IRCC close the stream again in order to complete the processing of the applications received?

Exactly what this line means. "until"
So they will stop after the the capacity has reached.

This process will continue until we reach the 2019 cap of 20 000 complete applications.

 

[Wonderland_1010]

Exactly what this line means. "until"
So they will stop after the the capacity has reached.

I see. Well it also said they will increase the intake after 2019. Hopefully they have contingent plans to decrease the processing time for the applications to prevent what had happened in the previous years when the stream was overfilled and had to stop completely in order to finished processing all the backlogs.

 

[zardoz]

This is a recipe for disaster again... Everybody will be sitting on their keyboards on the date of the PGP restarting in 2019 and the fastest typists will get in first. Or the IRCC’s website will crash.

 

[Wonderland_1010]

This is a recipe for disaster again... Everybody will be sitting on their keyboards on the date of the PGP restarting in 2019 and the fastest typists will get in first. Or the IRCC’s website will crash.

That is also true. I hope they will add in additional information to only select those are qualified to sponsor like they do for Express Entry applicants. Maybe that would be better?

 

[zardoz]

I wonder how the next Conservative government will react to this. I can't see them continuing the same process...

 

[Wonderland_1010]

I wonder how the next Conservative government will react to this. I can't see them continuing the same process...

Well Trudeau will be running as PM again next year so who knows what will happen.

 

[zardoz]

Well Trudeau will be running as PM again next year so who knows what will happen.

All I would say is this. If you want your parents / grandparents in Canada, get those applications in as soon as you can. Based on the anti-Liberal backlash in Ontario for the provincial elections, things could revert very quickly.

 

[Wonderland_1010]

All I would say is this. If you want your parents / grandparents in Canada, get those applications in as soon as you can. Based on the anti-Liberal backlash in Ontario for the provincial elections, things could revert very quickly.

Well unfortunately, I am not yet qualified for sponsorship so I can only hope that good changes will continue to occur for reunification of families stream.

 

[canuck78]

This was the first announcement after he announced his reelection bid yesterday. Before people start complaining I voted liberal. Clearly this is a bid to get the immigrant one because the Liberals are afraid that many immigrants, especially East Asians, may vote NDP because Singh is the leader. Think the increase is unnecessarily large. Why not 12,500? No money for healthcare while people can't get any home care, hospital beds are constantly blocked because there are no long term care beds to move seniors to and long term care is always at capacity. On top of that the Canadian population is getting older. Is it too much to see a little logic to these decisions? Of course

 

[Wonderland_1010]

This was the first announcement after he announced his reelection bid yesterday. Before people start complaining I voted liberal. Clearly this is a bid to get the immigrant one because the Liberals are afraid that many immigrants, especially East Asians, may vote NDP because Singh is the leader. Think the increase is unnecessarily large. Why not 12,500? No money for healthcare while people can't get any home care, hospital beds are constantly blocked because there are no long term care beds to move seniors to and long term care is always at capacity. On top of that the Canadian population is getting older. Is it too much to see a little logic to these decisions? Of course

Although I am part of the immigrant population in wanting to bring my parents over too (both in their 50s). I agree with you. I think they should have kept the lottery program and probably make tweaks for improvement but completely scrapping the whole lottery and replacing it back to first come first serve is a bad idea. The ending result of this would be the same as the previous years. So much backlogs for IRCC to handle.

 

[Copingwithlife]

And in a nutshell this could just possibly increase the voters distrust for the whole immigration system when it appears to being used for political gain, versus being non partisan. Time will only tell especially with the recent statements made by the PM today. Btw , I voted Liberal

 

[singleman]

This was the first announcement after he announced his reelection bid yesterday. Before people start complaining I voted liberal. Clearly this is a bid to get the immigrant one because the Liberals are afraid that many immigrants, especially East Asians, may vote NDP because Singh is the leader. Think the increase is unnecessarily large. Why not 12,500? No money for healthcare while people can't get any home care, hospital beds are constantly blocked because there are no long term care beds to move seniors to and long term care is always at capacity. On top of that the Canadian population is getting older. Is it too much to see a little logic to these decisions? Of course

Agree with you, look pension funds are going in deficit, they increased retirement age to 67 to cope up that. And we husbands and wives are apart for many months even some of those for over years. They have occupied most Hotels just to accommodate over flow of those crossing borders, even used schools churches to accommodate those who are coming after rejections from USA? I may be wrong here but I saw news. Looks like that's why they moved outlanders apps to Sydney, may be to accommodate those new incomers, not sure why this move! No movement by Sydney office for July even late June applicants. I wonder how the next V.O. would speed up processes in all countries so that it all is done within 1 year limit!

 

[canuck78]

And in a nutshell this could just possibly increase the voters distrust for the whole immigration system when it appears to being used for political gain, versus being non partisan. Time will only tell especially with the recent statements made by the PM today. Btw , I voted Liberal

Unfortunately for those seeking to sponsor their parents this could be their number one voting issue. I assume the NDP will say no caps on PGP and that everyone can apply. I would also like for there to be more information on the costs of aging parents especially if you are making under 100k and in one of the larger cities. There is no upfront discussion about what won't be covered if parents get sick or really if any Canadian gets sick. There are a large number of things that aren't covered: walkers, wheelchairs, electronic beds, incontinence products, nursing care or PSW when you receive a few hours a week from the province, ambulance costs, longterm care beds or hospital bed if there is no longterm care bed available, etc. Many family can just afford to bring their parents to Canada but if they get sick they will really struggle.

Don't get me started on the rollback of the retirement age. Although unpopular most can understand the reasoning behind the move and this it is responsible versus having more destitute seniors.