In the last decade, tens of thousands of people have immigrated to Canada under the family sponsorship program. The country is known for its generous immigration policies, especially when the sponsored applicant is a spouse, child or parent, or grandparent. If you survey the immigration policies for the UK, Australia and the US – the three most preferred places for immigration by many you will find that none of them offer a dedicated program for sponsoring your parents or sponsoring your grandparents. This is the reason why Canada is considered the most promising place for immigration, as it provides support to the entire family.

Do you want to Sponsor your Parents?

A large number of permanent residents make enormous efforts to sponsor their parents so that they can reunite them in Canada. You can sponsor your parents under the Family class program. As a sponsor, you only need to fulfill particular eligibility criteria, and then you can sponsor your parents or sponsor your grandparents quite easily.

What is the Eligibility Criteria for sponsoring your parents?

You must be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada to be able to sponsor your parents. Once you have your permanent residence, you can apply for sponsorship after at least one year of it. A more stringent requirement that is often difficult for applicants to meet is the financial constraints. The government of Canada believes that the sponsor must be established and in good financial standing before he/she can apply for sponsorship. This is important because if you are not self-sustained, you will have a lot of difficulty fulfilling the needs of your immigrant family member. As a consequence, you will ask for assistance from the government, something that the government of Canada strongly discourages.

The Parent Sponsorship Program will be back in Action in January 2015

The government of Canada paused new applications for sponsoring parents in the last quarter of 2011. Being one of the strategies to reduce the long-trailing backlog, the news came as a shock to many who were intending to apply to sponsor their parents and grandparents. Fortunately, the government has launched phase II of the parental sponsorship program, which will again allow new applicants to immigrate to Canada.

Features of the Action Plan for the Parental Sponsorship Program

In a news release, the government announced that a new action plan will ensure that the processing times are reduced. The government has the belief that by January 2015, the backlog would have been reduced by 50%, allowing new applications to process much faster. Parental sponsorship program applications were previously plagued with delays, some encompassing as wide as ten long years. Thanks to the application reduction plan launched in 2011, the government is finally in a state to accept new applications.

Have you Already Applied for the Parental Sponsorship Program?

The pause on new applications applied in 2011 did not impact the already submitted applications. If you have submitted the application, there is good news for you. The government of Canada is planning to allow 50,000 permanent residences to parents and grandparents in 2012-2013. Therefore those applications which are already in the process have high chance of acceptance.

Are you planning to Sponsor your Parents?

The new cap will reopen in 2015. The plan announced in a news press is to accept 5,000 new applications in the subsequent year. At the same time, the government will try to reduce the backlog further, allowing more applications to process and allowing the government to accept new applications in the upcoming years.

New Criteria for 2015

However, the new phase will see some stricter plans for eligibility criteria. The sponsors will need to satisfy the immigration office with sufficient proof that they are able to support their sponsors for as long as they live in Canada. This is done to ensure that the new immigrants don’t rely on government assistance for their living expenses. Consequently, it’s promising for the taxpayers of Canadian citizens who are often competing for social and health programs.

What do you need to do to sponsor your Parents?

If you are planning to sponsor your parents or sponsoring your grandparents, you should start preparing your documents now. The new cap will reopen in January 2015 and will only have 5,000 new applications. You must understand that there are people around the world who are waiting for this golden opportunity.

Be Careful in Preparing Applications for Sponsoring your Parents

It’s a very serious matter, and you must make sure that you have a complete understanding of the process and the required documents. If you need help in preparing your application or arranging documents, you can contact us. Our qualified immigrant team will help you determine what documents you need. We can also submit documents to the immigration office on your behalf. We are in constant touch with immigration personnel, and we keep our clients updated with their application status. All you need to do, is contact us so that we can discuss your matter in detail.