Canada to reduce wait times for family reunification
by Harleen Kaur - May 12, 2012
Canada, 12th May: Canada had announced plans to reduce backlog for Canada sponsored grandparents and parents.
As per the details of the planned reforms to Canada family reunification program, wait times and increasing backlogs will be dealt with firmly through Phase I of Canada’s Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification program.
This was revealed by Canada immigration minister Jason Kenney in November last year. Canada is struggling to cope up with nearly 1,65,000 grandparents and parents still waiting to gain Canada permanent residency.
As Canada immigration department-CIC(Citizenship and Immigration Canada) keeps on getting Canada sponsorship applications for grandparents and parents each year, this leads to higher waiting times. So, an action plan was the need of the hour. As of now, Canada has around seven years of waiting times for applications for grandparents and parents under family class sponsorship program.
And this is not acceptable, says Kenney. Only an action in this regard can make this Canada immigration program sustainable for the coming times, he affirmed.
What is the Phase I of Action plan for Canada Faster Family Reunification under Family Class Sponsorship—
• First—Increasing limit for parents and grandparents as permanent residents to 25,000-It will work in cutting increasing backlog of Canada visa applications while enabling higher limit of application processing. This will lead to faster family reunification.
• Second—Canada Super Visas for parents and grandparents—Canada government’s step of introducing a new Canada Super Visa with a validity period of ten years is a great offer. It is a multiple entry visa enabling parents and grandparents to stay in Canada for a maximum period of 24 months at a time without having to renew their immigration status. On expiry of 24 months period, they can seek extension of their immigration status for another 24 months.
• Third—Canadian government introduced launch of nationwide consultations for redesigning Canada parents and grandparents program. It will help in cutting backlogs.
• Fourth—A temporary halt for a maximum of 24 months on receipt of new Canada sponsorship applications meant for parents and grandparents is aimed to bring down 165,000 backlog of immigration applications under the program. It will help in faster family reunification, informed Kenney.
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