Toronto: The Canadian government has stopped accepting fresh permanent residency (PR) applications for parents and grandparents under the Family Class stream.
That change was notified in the Canada Gazette on Friday and first reported by the agency Canadian Press. The amendment will be for an indefinite period and will last till new instructions in this regard from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller are issued.
The Gazette notification stated, “These Instructions are intended to ensure that as of January 1, 2025, no new permanent resident visa applications made by parents or grandparents of a sponsor and no sponsorship applications made in relation to those applications are received for processing until further Instructions are issued.”
Currently, they can be sponsored by Canadian citizens and permanent residents. However, they will remain eligible for the supervisa, a long-term, multiple-entry document.
The Department of Citizenship and Immigration, the Gazette entry said, will only process applications in this regard that were received in 2024.
“Unless subsequent Instructions are given for the 2025 calendar year, no other permanent resident visa applications made by parents or grandparents under the family class and no sponsorship applications made in relation to those applications will be accepted for processing in 2025,” the entry noted.
“Only applications received in 2024 will be accepted for processing in 2025,” it said.
There is also a cap of 15,000 on the number of such sponsorship applications that will be accepted for processing.
According to the annual report to Parliament tabled by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in November last year, in 2023, 28,313 individuals (16,907 females and 11,406 males) were admitted under the parent and grandparent category, representing a four per cent increase from 2022. At the end of 2023, there were over 40,000 such sponsorship applications pending with the department. Figures for 2024 are not yet available.
Also in 2023, IRCC approved 73,113 super visas applications for parents and grandparents. In 2023, processing time was 24 months compared to 36 months in 2022.
