Summer time is travel time for many persons. When returning to Canada, some might be tempted to try their luck and hide items obtained abroad in their luggage. Others might declare the items to the Customs / Canada Border Services Agency officer, but provide false information as to their true … Read More
Major announcements were made by the Canadian Immigration Minister Honourable John McCallum on December 7, 2016 regarding sponsorship of spouses to settle as a permanent resident of Canada. Mr. McCallum used a day care centre as backdrop to emphasize the importance of family reunification (see image with this article from … Read More
Now that the 2016 Labour Day long weekend has come and gone, it is timely for persons intending to fly to Canada who are from visa-exempt countries to determine if they will need to obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) and, if so, to obtain one. Up until now, the … Read More
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.” Read More
Canadian Immigration has reopened the parent and grandparent sponsorship program, effective 4 January 2016. We are disappointed that the cap has been kept at 5,000 applications; during the October 2015 federal election, the Liberals had campaigned on doubling the permitted applications.
According to CBC News, Immigration Minister John McCallum has pledged that the 10,000 application level will be honoured, but whether this will happen later this year or in a subsequent year is not yet determined. Predictably, the opposition Conservatives and New Democrats have criticized the Minister for not meeting the 10,000 target. Read More