Family reunification continues to be a priority for the Government of Canada as it plays a significant role in attracting, retaining and integrating immigrants who contribute to our success as a country, particularly as we work to recover from COVID-19.
Canada’s family class granted permanent residency to 80,993 individuals in 2021. It allows for the sponsorship of spouses, common-law partners, dependent children, children to be adopted, parents, grandparents, and other foreign nationals. In 2022, the Department aims to accept 90,000 to 109,000 permanent residents under the family class.
Measures implemented to support processing
The Department has introduced several measures to support and accelerate the processing of family class applications.
These 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 assigned to family class applications.
We are continuing our efforts to support family reunification, including to reduce application processing times; introduce electronic applications; and implement a program to issue temporary resident visas to permit travel to Canada for spouses, partners and children during the processing of their application for permanent residence.
2021 Parents and Grandparents Program intake
The number of individuals interested in sponsoring their parents and grandparents always significantly exceed the number of applications the Department can accept.
For the 2021 Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) intake, potential sponsors were randomly selected from the remaining pool of Interest to Sponsor forms received in 2020, with a goal to accept up to 30,000 complete applications. In order to ensure the selection process was fair, and to provide equal opportunity to be invited to apply, alternate submission methods were provided to those with accessibility issues, and duplicate entries were removed. Furthermore, the transparency, security and integrity of the randomized selection is ensured by the ability to trace and audit the entire process.
IRCC acknowledges that many families living in Canada have experienced financial difficulties because of the pandemic. For this reason, we implemented a more facilitative income requirement for the 2020 and 2021 taxation years.
Parent and Grandparent Super Visa
Parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents may also apply for a temporary resident visa through any of our available streams, including the parents and grandparents super visa, which is a multiple-entry visa valid for up to 10 years that allows for stays of up to two years at a time.
Background
Measures within the border closure orders that support family reunification
Vaccinated immediate and extended family members of Canadian citizens, permanent residents, temporary residents, persons registered under the Indian Act, and protected persons are permitted to enter Canada under the provisions in the Orders in Council that pertain to fully vaccinated travellers.
Unvaccinated immediate and extended family members of Canadian citizens, permanent residents, temporary residents, persons registered under the Indian Act, and protected persons are not permitted to enter Canada under the Orders in Council at this time, unless they qualify for one of the limited remaining exemptions.
One remaining exemption in the Orders in Council that supports family reunification is the exemption for certain minors under the age of 18. Minors that are eligible to enter Canada are not required to apply and receive approval from IRCC. The Department no longer pre-adjudicates exemptions for family members under the Orders in Council.
Processing applications under the family class
While restrictions on on-site presence limited processing capacity in the early months of the pandemic, IRCC has ensured to put in place various initiatives to enable remote processing.
Previous and ongoing international travel restrictions, border restrictions, limited operational capacity overseas, and client behavior (clients unwilling to travel in the current 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 March 2021, the Department launched the permanent residence online application portal to enable some applicants and representatives to submit applications electronically for the first time. Since June 2021, IRCC has been conducting all virtual landings for clients that are in Canada through the permanent residence online application portal.
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, which sets out to expedite eligibility approval of 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 re-allocation of resources in an effort to meet IRCC’s objective of reducing processing times for all cases.
Due to processing delays on spousal applications, 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 were namely 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 and related to either purpose of travel, family ties, assets, travel history, or current employment.
2021 Parents and Grandparents Program intake
In the fall of 2021, IRCC randomly selected potential sponsors from the remaining pool of Interest to Sponsor forms received in 2020. A total of 34,500 Invitations to Apply were sent out by October 5, 2021, with the goal of accepting up to 30,000 complete applications into processing.
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 have been reduced to the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30%.
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 other evidence of a common-law partnership. Dependents may provide similar documents to establish their relationship to the principal applicant and/or the sponsor.
An applicant or dependent must make every reasonable attempt to provide 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/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.
