Permanent Residence for under 22 children - Temporary Public Policy

by Rekha McNutt

This post follows up on our last post announcing the coming into force the change to the age of dependent children. 

You might be wondering how to gain permanent residence for a child who wasn't eligible prior to October 24, 2017. CIC has a temporary public policy in place which provides guidance on how to get this done.

The government announced the change to the age of dependency on May 3, 2017, even though it only came into force a few days ago. As such, this public policy only applies to those applications made by the parents of these children between May 3, 2017, and October 23, 2017. 

The Policy provides the following guidance for eligibility:

Based on public policy considerations, delegated officers may grant an exemption from the provisions of the Regulations listed below to foreign nationals who meet the following eligibility criteria and conditions:

A permanent residence application for a child can be made if the:

1. Child was 19, 20, or 21 as of May 3, 2017 (the date of final publication of the regulatory amendment) or as of date the parent’s permanent residence application was made, if received on or after May 3, 2017 and before October 24, 2017;
2. Parent or child had a permanent residence application that was either pending on May 3, 2017 or was received on or after May 3, 2017 and before October 24, 2017 (the child must have been previously identified as “additional family” on their parent’s application);
3. Child is not a spouse/common-law partner; and,
4. Child is not otherwise inadmissible.

The child can be:

1. Processed or added to an application (as a dependent child) if the permanent resident visa or Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) had not been issued at the time the Department was notified of the intention to add the child; OR
2. Sponsored as a member of the Family Class once the parent is granted permanent residence.

Note: Refugees and protected persons may add a child who was 19, 20, or 21 on May 3, 2017 and (not a spouse/common-law partner) as an accompanying or non-accompanying dependant on a pending application; non-accompanying dependants would be able to apply for permanent residence within the one-year window.

An application to sponsor a child who is eligible under this public and is 22 or over at time of sponsorship, must be received by the Department within one year after their parent is granted permanent residence. Children who are under 22 at time of sponsorship will be processed under the regular sponsorship regulations.

Notification Period: Parents who wish to apply for their child to come to Canada must notify the Department of their intention to do so by January 31, 2018, in accordance with instructions provided by the department.

For those parents whose PR applications have been finalized already, and who may still have children under 22, a simple/regular sponsorship of a child application is still possible. 

Age of Dependent Child - now 'under 22'

by Rekha McNutt

Today is the day! The age of dependent children is to revert back to 'under 22'. You can read the original release here.

The previous changes had lowered the age of dependent children to under 19 and removed the exception for those enrolled in post-secondary education.

Going forward, a "dependent child" is any biological or adopted child of the parent, who is in one of the following situations of dependency:

• Is under 22 and not a spouse or common-law partner;
• is 22 or older but has depended substantially on the financial support of the parent since before the age of 22 and is unable to be financially self-supporting due to a physical or mental condition 

Those who have pending permanent residence applications can now add their under 22 children to their application, if they were formerly prevented from doing so when the age limit was under 19. Those whose permanent residence applications have been finalized may be in a position to sponsor their under 22 child.

Application refused? Can the Federal Court help?

It can be very frustrating, not to mention puzzling, when an immigration application is refused. Whether that application is for a temporary visa (to visit, study or work in Canada), to permanently immigrate, or a hearing gone wrong, the question is what can be done about it. The answer may be a Judicial Review ("JR") application to the Federal Court. 

Rekha McNutt recently "sat down" (ie. Skyped) with a fellow Immigration Lawyer, Mark Holthe, to talk about the JR process and what it all means. 

Take a listen to the Podcast that resulted from Rekha's conversation with Mark. You can also access it on iTunes.

If you have had your application refused, contact us immediately for advice on what to do. 

CIC Processing Times

As of today, CIC has updated its application processing times. Unfortunately, the new system lumps together many different types of applications, which does not provide any accurate information about how much time your application will actually take. For example, all 'outside Canada" sponsorships of spouses is lumped into one time estimate, regardless of which visa office is processing the application. Historically, there has been a great variance in processing times from one visa office to another. The "real-life" impact of this will be to allow the Call Centre to refuse to answer any questions on the status of an application if this minimum has not passed.

Here is the link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/index.asp