The department has also cut the PR quota of skilled workers invited from abroad under the Post Graduation Program by 20 percent to 24,500. Although the department has only talked about this year so far, according to internal sources in the department, this ban is the second step towards permanently closing this program.
Visa Applications: The Canadian government has temporarily closed new applications for permanent residency sponsorship for parents and grandparents. The Canadian immigration department will not be accepting applications under the Super Visa program this year. According to the department, efforts will be made to resolve the 15,000 applications that have been on the waiting list under this scheme for past years by the end of this year.
It is worth mentioning that the Canadian government had provided a facility to permanent residents of foreign origin to bring their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents to Canada permanently under the Family Reunion Program. PR people waiting to fill applications from the department have been asked to give priority to keeping their parents with them under the Super Visa. The validity of the Super Visa has already been extended to five years, although applications will not be taken this year.
The department has also cut the PR quota of skilled workers invited from abroad under the Post Graduation Program by 20 percent to 24,500. Although the department has only talked about this year so far, according to internal sources in the department, this ban is the second step towards permanently closing this program.
Immigration Minister Mark Miller says the move will best meet the government’s immigration and family reunification goals. In addition, new sponsorships in other immigration categories have also been temporarily suspended to clear the backlog of old applications.
According to the government’s three-year immigration plan, overall immigration will fall, but the target is to admit more than 24,000 people this year through parental and grandparent sponsorship. Under the new guidelines, a maximum of 15,000 applications will be processed through the Family Reunification Program in 2024. 35,700 people were selected to apply under this program in 2024. Of these, the government had set a target of accepting 20,500 applications. However, more than 40,000 sponsorship applications were pending by the end of 2023.
