Canada Raises Upper Limit on Parent, Grandparent Visa Scheme to 10,000

In a fairly positive development, the in-office immigration Canadian minister has reportedly issued formal orders that this year and in every year ahead, the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will accept 10,000 petitions, under the well-known and widely used Grandparent Visa Programme. This is up from 5,000 in every of the preceding two years.

Notably, increasing the limit on applications was a vow the Liberals made through the election drive. Allegedly, the development indicates that the broader Liberal plan on the number of aliens the Maple Leaf Country will admit this year is probably nearing release, as John McCallum, the incumbent Immigration Minister, had formerly stated the two were linked.

Despite the fact that the Parent and Grandparent Visa Plan is an exceptionally popular immigration class, during 2011, the preceding Conservative administration shut the same down, referring to difficulties with the scheme and a necessity to work through a huge buildup in applications.

When they threw the doors of the scheme open once again in 2014, they made many improvements and this include increasing the amount somebody is required to possess prior to offering sponsorship to a parent or grandparent, and also the period that support must be assured. Still, the most condemned measure was a limit on fresh petitions at 5,000. As mentioned before, the Liberals had pledged to raise the same through last year’s drive.

They had indicated the move was coming in the month of January, when instead of decreasing the intake of fresh petitions at 5,000, they admitted 14,000-plus applications. Significantly, the first 10,000 complete files will be duly processed on and above those already in the system.

As per the details given on the website of the IRCC, they are still busy with the files obtained prior to November 4, 2011. As per the ministerial orders for the latest limit, published recently, these orders contribute to a strategy to make possible family reunification and act in accordance with Ottawa’s pledge to increase by 100% the latest application intake to a maximum of 10 000 petitions per annum.

Even as the orders modify the cap, they don’t make any improvements to any other aspects of the scheme, and this includes the petitions will be duly processed on a first−come, first−served ground. The same, it is alleged, has resulted in a rather profitable business for couriers or messengers who are charging a huge amount of dollars to assure a petition is first in the row.

Post a public objection earlier this year, though McCallum had reportedly stated he would explore the possibility of changes (if any) in the future years, he observed the increased limit would ease some of the crisis.

During 2014, the last year for which full numbers are obtainable, just more than 18,000 persons gained admission into the nation, under the scheme.