Got my bad news today
Thank you for completing the online Interest to sponsor form to let us know that you are interested in applying to sponsor your parents or grandparents. As part of the government’s commitment to fairness and transparency, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) now randomly selects individuals who have shown interest in applying to sponsor their parent(s) or grandparent(s) under this program. Now that submissions for 2017 are closed, we have randomly selected 10,000 individuals who showed interest in applying to sponsor their parents or grandparents. We regret to inform you that you were not selected to apply this year.
We understand this outcome is not the one you hoped for and we recognize the importance of reuniting with your family. This is an important issue for IRCC and the Government of Canada, which in 2016, doubled the number of parents and grandparents applications accepted for processing – from 5,000 to 10,000. We realize that you may not find this encouraging as you weren’t among those randomly selected this year, but we are doing what we can to uphold the Government’s commitment to family reunification in the fairest way possible.
There are other avenues for persons who were not selected this year to bring their parents or grandparents to Canada. For instance, we also offer the Parent and Grandparent Super Visa program. This program is quite popular as the Super Visa is available to anyone who is eligible.
Currently, most visitors to Canada may visit for up to six months when they first enter Canada. Visitors who wish to stay longer must apply for an extension, and pay a new fee.
With the parent and grandparent super visa, eligible parents and grandparents can visit family in Canada for up to two years without the need to renew their status.
The Super Visa is a visa that provides multiple entries for a period up to 10 years. The key difference is that the Super Visa allows an individual to stay for up to two years on initial entry into Canada, whereas a 10-year multiple entry visitor visa would only have a status period of six months.
If you would like to obtain more information regarding the Super Visa program, including who is eligible and how to apply for a Super Visa, we invite you to visit our website.
Please note that you will have the opportunity to show your interest to sponsor your parent or grandparent again in 2018.