No sooner had the Canadian Immigration department reopened the parent and grandparent sponsorship program on January 4, 2016, then overnight on January 7th it was announced that 14,000 applications had already been received, and so no new applications would be accepted.

According to the official announcement, “The first 5,000 complete applications received will be placed in the inventory queue. Canada is committed to reuniting families and the Government of Canada is seeking to increase the intake of parent and grandparent sponsorship applications from 5,000 to 10,000 per year. In light of this commitment, IRCC will retain the first 10,000 complete applications.”

As we wrote in our Blog on January 7th, it is not known when the government will be in a position to respect the Liberal Party’s campaign undertaking to increase the applications processed for this type of sponsorship up to 10,000 from 5,000 applications, but this is indeed welcome news.  For the time being, all we can be sure of is that complete applications from 5,001 to 10,000 in the queue will not be returned automatically to the applicant’s sponsor.

The speed at which this category was opened then closed is a good example of how persons may benefit from the strategic planning and execution of complicated applications provided by competent legal counsel. Did you miss out on this opportunity?  What other opportunities would you like to consider?

Stephen Fogarty is an attorney assisting clients in Canadian citizenship and immigration law, as well as special legal services for musicians, at Fogarty Law Firm in Montréal.  He is Honorary Legal Advisor to the Embassy of Ireland in Canada. His law firm’s website is www.fogartylaw.ca. The views in this article are his alone and not those of any other person or organization.  This article is for information purposes only and is not intended to give or to replace legal advice.