CANADA FOR THE FIRST TIME ANNOUNCED NEW IMMIGRATION PROGRAM UNDER WHICH PERMANENT RESIDENT CAN SPONSOR ELIGIBLE BROTHERS AND SISTERS WITH THEIR SPONSORED PARENTS WITH MAXIMUM CAP OF 5000 FOR 2014 AND TO RECEIVE APPLICATIONS FROM 2ND JANUARY 2014 WITH PROCESSING TIME OF THREE YEARS BY 2015 30TH NOVEMBER 2013 Canadian citizens and permanent residents whose brothers and sisters are still living in their home countries do face lot of pressures to sponsor them to Canada. The Canadian Immigration Protection Act and Regulations do not provide direct option to sponsor brothers or sisters to Canada. The only option is to sponsor parents who can bring the siblings to Canada as dependent children.. Citizenship and Immigration Canada paused the parents and sponsorship program for the last two years due to extremely long processing times and backlog and hence closed the doors to indirectly sponsor siblings. Parents and grandparents were only granted Super Visa allowing them to stay in Canada for extended period of up to ten years without any permanent residence status. Citizenship and Immigration Canada has now announced its plans to reopen the sponsorship program from January 2, 2014 which will allow the eligible sponsors to bring sisters and/or brothers to Canada with their sponsored parents. The eligibility criteria such as minimum income requirements, length of sponsorship undertaking, proof of minimum income and age limit of depends has been revised with new conditions coming into force next year. 1. Higher Minimum Necessary Income Level: The minimum necessary income (MNI) required to sponsor parents and grandparents has been increased by 30 per cent. The current minimum income required for a family of four including the applicants is $42,065, however, for sponsoring parents and grandparents it will increase to $54,684. Citizenship and immigration Canada believes that higher costs are associated with being financially responsible sponsor for old parents and grandparents and current MNI doe snot reflect it. The sponsors with proposed higher MNI will be able to meet the financial requirements of the sponsored parents and grandparents minimizing the possibility of their dependence on the Canadian taxpayers money. The higher income threshold means that the sponsor is contributing adequately towards the public services such as provincial health care etc. which the sponsored family members are most likely to use. The current and increased MNI amounts based on the size of the family are shown in the following table: Size of family unit, including applicants Current Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) MNI, plus 30% 2 persons $28,182 $36,636 3 persons $34,646 $45,039 4 persons $42,065 $54,684 5 persons $47,710 $62,023 6 persons $53,808 $69,950 For each additional person $6,099 $7,928 2. More Objective Proof of Income: Citizenship and Immigration Canada will be requiring more objective proof of income to ensure their financial stability for longer periods. Individuals who seek to sponsor their parents and grandparents and their accompanying family members will be required to demonstrate that they meet the new income threshold for the three consecutive tax years prior to submitting the sponsorship application. The sponsor’s income stability and availability of financial means to provide for the basic needs of sponsored parents and grandparents will be assessed on the basis of their income over the three years period prior to the submission of their application to sponsor instead of one year. 3. Only Canada Revenue Agency Notices of Assessment as Proof of Income: Citizenship and Immigration Canada will accept only Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) issued notices of assessment for the past three years as proof of meeting the new income threshold. The reviewing and verifying of documents will take less time and could help speed up processing times even further. 4. Sponsorship undertaking period Extended from 10 to 20 years: The current sponsorship undertaking period for parents and grandparents is 10 years. Individuals who seek to sponsor their parents and grandparents and accompanying family members will be required to commit to a lengthened sponsorship undertaking period of 20 years. sons This means sponsors and co-signers (if applicable) will be responsible for repaying any provincial social assistance benefits paid to the parent and grandparent and their accompanying family members for 20 years. A lengthened sponsorship undertaking will protect Canadian taxpayers and ensure sponsors assume more financial responsibility for the basic needs of their parents and grandparents over a longer period of time, as well as for health care costs not covered by provincial health care (for example, eye care, dental care, mobility aids, etc.). 5. Changing the maximum age of dependents: The maximum age of dependents will be set at 18 years of age and under for all immigration programs, including the Parent and Grandparent program. This is in line with the standard age of majority in Canada. Those over the age of 18 can apply to visit or immigrate to Canada independently. There will be an exception for individuals, regardless of age, who are financially dependent on their parents due to a mental or physical disability. 6. Maximum Yearly Cap of 5000 in 2014 By accepting 5,000 applications in 2014 while maintaining high levels of admissions of parents and grandparents, the government will be able to further reduce the remaining backlog so that families can be reunited even more quickly. Opening the program to an unlimited number of applications as was done in the past will grow the backlog again and increase wait times, undoing the progress made to date. Canada is reopening its door for family member immigration from January 2, 2014 and it is expected that the processing time will be reduced to under three years by 2015 compared to existing 6-7 years.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 02:32:11 +0000