By: Maria Andrea De Luna

If your spouse, common-law partner, or dependent child is eligible to be sponsored and qualifies for the pilot project, you can apply to sponsor them starting September 9, 2019.

All Foreign Nationals when applying to immigrate to Canada are required to declare all family members and these family members must be examined. Failure to have a non-accompanying family member examined results in a lifetime exclusion in being able to sponsor that person under the family class or the spouse or common-law partner in Canada (SCLPC) class, per paragraph 117(9)(d) or 125(1)(d) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.

These regulations have impacted families and to address this concern, ICCRC has implemented a pilot that will run for two years. The pilot will exempt certain individuals from the R117(9)(d) or R125(1)(d) exclusions. 

 

ELIGIBILITY:

♦The foreign national has applied as either of the following:

• a spouse or a common-law partner under the SCLPC class
• a spouse, a common-law partner or a dependent child under the family class

♦The sponsor was granted permanent residence status in Canada as any of the following:

• a resettled refugee and their dependants (such as a Convention refugee or a person in similar circumstances, or an applicant under the country of asylum class)
• a protected person and their dependants
• a sponsored spouse, a common-law partner, a conjugal partner or a dependent child under the family class
• a sponsored spouse or a common-law partner under the SCLPC (Spouse,Common-law In Canada) class

♦The foreign national, if declared and examined at the time their sponsor immigrated to Canada, would not have made their sponsor ineligible in the class under which the sponsor applied.

Note that dependent children will still have to meet the definition. Lock-in age applies at the time IRCC receives a full application.

PUBLIC POLICY DOES NOT APPLY TO THE FOLLOWING:

The public policy does not apply if the sponsor was granted permanent residence status under any other immigration category not specified by the public policy, including any of the following:

1. any of the economic classes
2. other members of the family class (such as parents and grandparents and their dependent children, orphaned relatives and other relatives)
3. permit holder class
4. permanent residence from within Canada based on humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) grounds

The public policy does not apply if the foreign national, if declared and examined at the time their sponsor immigrated to Canada, would have made their sponsor ineligible in the class under which the sponsor applied. For example, if the sponsor

• immigrated as a spouse, but was married to the current applicant when the sponsor became a permanent resident (that is, was in a bigamous or polygamous relationship)
• immigrated as a dependent child of a principal applicant (including an applicant in a refugee category) or as a dependent child under the family class, but did not declare their spouse or common-law partner, so that they could be considered as a dependent child
• would have had to meet financial requirements under the family class or the SCLPC class if the dependent children of a sponsored dependent child were disclosed
• came to Canada through a program that required them to have no dependants

The Public policy will apply to the following Family Class Sponsorship applications:

• applications still in process on May 31, 2019 (no final decision made before that date)
• applications received between May 31, 2019, and September 9, 2021
• applications pending reconsideration between May 31, 2019, and September 9, 2021.

Source: Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada

About the Author:

Maria is a licensed Immigration Consultant and has been in the industry for over 10 years. She hosts weekly Facebook Live Immigration Q and A geared towards Filipinos abroad and in Canada. She has had background in requesting Humanitarian and Compassionate Considerations pertaining to undeclared family members. Need consultation? call 403-538-2193 . You can also use the online booking site to book an in-person, skype call, or phone consultation: https://mdlbookonline.as.me