CIMM – Family Reunification – November 29, 2022

Key Messages

Family Reunification

• The family sponsorship program allows for the sponsorship of spouses, common-law partners, conjugal partners, dependent children, children to be adopted, parents, grandparents, and other eligible relatives.
• In 2022, the Department aims to admit 105,000 permanent residents under the family sponsorship program.
• Canada’s family sponsorship program granted permanent residency to over 85,570 individuals so far in 2022.

Modernizing Processing

• The Department has introduced several measures to support and accelerate the processing of family class applications while maintaining and respecting program integrity.
• These supporting measures include file digitization, remote processing, conducting remote interviews, the use of Advanced Analytics, the introduction of an online application portal for clients and representatives, and an increased number of decision makers.
• In February 2022, the Department launched a new digital case status tracker that allows for spouses, common-law partners, conjugal partners and dependent children, as well as their sponsors and representatives, to more easily check their application status online.
• We are continuing our efforts to support family reunification, by improving application processing times and developing options to develop a program to issue temporary residence for spouses, common-law and conjugal partners and their dependent children during the processing of their application for permanent residence.

2022 Parents and Grandparents Program Intake

• The number of individuals interested in sponsoring their parents and grandparents significantly exceeds the number of applications the Department can accept to meet Cabinet approved admission targets.
• For the 2022 Parents and Grandparents Program intake, potential sponsors were randomly selected from the remaining pool of those who expressed interest in 2020 with a goal to accept up to 15,000 complete applications. This random selection model ensured that the process was fair and transparent, and that all interested potential sponsors in the pool had an equal opportunity to be invited to apply.
• Since many sponsors may have been affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic, the income requirement to sponsor a parent or grandparent for the 2020 and 2021 taxation years has been reduced to the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30%.

If pressed on processing times:

• IRCC continues to process parents and grandparents applications that have already been received from previous intakes. The number of applications processed each year is based on annual admission targets in the Immigration Levels Plan and on the MIFI Levels targets.

Background

1. Processing Applications
2. Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP)
3. Assessing the genuineness of a relationship

a. Processing Applications Under the Family Sponsorship Program

• While restrictions on on-site presence limited processing capacity in the early months of the pandemic, IRCC has put in place various initiatives to enable remote processing.
• Previous and ongoing international travel restrictions, border restrictions, limited operational capacity overseas, and client behaviour (clients unwilling to travel in the lock-down environment) have created barriers within the processing continuum, hindering IRCC’s ability to finalize applications and land clients, which in turn impacts processing times.
• In September 2022, the Department expanded the Permanent Residence Portal and the Representative Permanent Residence Portal to enable applicants applying under Family Reunification programs and representatives to submit applications electronically. Since June 2021, IRCC has been conducting all virtual landings for clients that are in Canada through the Permanent Residence Portal. The Department continues to enhance the Permanent Residence Portal and introduce efficiencies in the intake process to continue our efforts to reduce application inventories accumulated during the pandemic.
• The Department has devoted additional resources to speed up processing, including the expansion of our office in Sydney, Nova Scotia by hiring of new staff to help in reuniting families faster.
• The Department has also started conducting limited remote interviews for eligibility purposes, using telephone and MS Teams, for in-Canada spousal applicants who would have otherwise required an in-person interview in order to help address processing issues.
• In April 2021, the Department launched an Advanced Analytics pilot project for Spouse and Common-Law Partner in Canada Class (SCLPC) applications. Advanced analytics is used to determine that an applicant meets the eligibility criteria for certain low-complexity applications. While it is premature to report on the processing efficiency gains of in-Canada SCLPC Advanced Analytics, officers have identified value in the model, which has allowed a strategic reallocation of resources in an effort to meet IRCC’s objective of reducing processing times for all cases. Ongoing quality assurance continues to be undertaken to identify and close gaps as well as mitigate program integrity risks.
• Due to processing delays on spousal applications for permanent residence, there were public campaigns and advocacy groups who flagged issues around the issuance of temporary resident visas to those with spousal applications in progress, which namely included high refusal rates.
  • In 2019, top refusal grounds for a temporary resident visa for spousal sponsorship applicants were due to the inability to establish that the person would leave at the end of their authorized stay, related to either purpose of travel, family ties, assets, travel history, or current employment.
  • The Prime Minister’s mandate letter sets out the commitment to strengthen family reunification by implementing a program to issue temporary resident status to spouses and children abroad while they wait for the processing of their permanent residency application, to reunite families sooner. The Department is developing options to meet this commitment.

b. 2022 Parents and Grandparents Program Intake

• For the 2022 intake, we invited potential sponsors from the pool of 155,313 remaining potential sponsors who submitted an Interest to Sponsor form in 2020. A total of 23,100 Invitations to Apply were sent out by October 20, 2022, with the goal of accepting up to 15,000 complete applications into processing. IRCC must receive all applications electronically on or before December 24, 2022 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. If a foreign national, sponsor, co-signer or representative requires accommodations, including for a disability, they may ask to submit the application in an alternative format.
• Since many sponsors may have been affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic, the income requirement to sponsor a parent or grandparent for the 2020 and 2021 taxation years has been reduced to the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30%.
• Parents and grandparents who are not invited to apply or who are waiting for their applications to be processed and wish to come to Canada may also be eligible to apply for a Super Visa, which is a multi-entry visa that allows parents or grandparents to stay in Canada for extended lengths of time. The Government has recently announced enhancements to the Super Visa that increase the length of stay per entry for Super Visa holders from up to two years to up to five years to align with Bill C-242. People who have a super visa also have the option to request to extend their stay by up to 2 years at a time while in Canada.

c. Assessing the Genuineness of a Relationship for Family Class Permanent Resident Applications

• Applicants may establish their relationship to the sponsor by providing a birth certificate, a baptismal record, a marriage certificate or evidence of a common-law or conjugal partnership. Family members may provide similar documents to establish their relationship to the principal applicant and/or the sponsor. Other members of the family class can also provide such documents to establish their relationship with the sponsor.
• An applicant or their family member must make every reasonable attempt to provide satisfactory documentary evidence to confirm a relationship. If they are unable to do so, an officer can counsel them that they have the option to undergo DNA testing at their expense.
• To assess that a spousal/common-law or conjugal partner relationship is genuine, supporting proof of relationship is requested and reviewed (e.g., proof of contact, proof of visits, photos, etc.). Interviews can also be conducted if deemed necessary by an officer.
• Some members of the LGBTQ2+ community who reside in countries where their relationships are illegal have flagged difficulties with obtaining and submitting these supporting documents to IRCC. In these cases, the Department provides guidance to submit a detailed letter of explanation with their application, explaining why it is not possible to obtain certain documents.