New Changes to Canada’s Application Intake System for Parents and Grandparents

The Government of Canada aims to improve its application intake system and accept more sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents, from 5,000 applications in 2014 to 20,000 in 2019. The approval of such applications will allow parents and grandparents to become Canadian permanent residents.

In this blog, I will look at some of the challenges and shortcomings of the current application process for parents and grandparents that triggered this change.

Submission of the “Interest to Sponsor” form

The web-based “Interest to Sponsor” form was created for Canadian citizens and permanent residents who wish to sponsor their parents or grandparents to indicate interest in the program. The form does not evaluate for eligibility, and sponsors are chosen at random. Sponsors who are selected after filling out the form are notified via email and must then complete their application and provide supporting documents. The form can be completed by anyone and to correct an error, an email must be sent to [email protected].

Frequency of selection

Sponsors are chosen only twice per year, which limits the possibility of being selected.

Unknown selection process

The selection process can be unpredictable, and it is impossible to know which sponsors will be selected, and which will not. Some may be selected as sponsors multiple times and some may not be selected at all.

Quota reached

The government aims to receive, by the end of 2018, 17,000 applications. However, historically, not all those selected and invited to apply are submitting a full application. This means that candidates are either forgetting to submit the application for sponsorship or they are no longer interested. Under the old system, the application quota would be met every year, and this is the disconnect that the government is trying to fix in 2019 with the upcoming changes.

What will change in 2019

Sponsors will still have to express online their interest to sponsor, but the invitations will be issued to them in the order of submission on a first come, first served basis. The process will continue until the cap of 20,000 submissions is met in 2019. The government will release further improvements to the system later this year.

It appears to me that this change is a government effort to make the sponsorship process for parents and grandparents more predictable and easier to navigate.

If you have any further questions with regards to the above topic, you can reach Cosmina Morariu at [email protected]