In a news release on June 13, 2016 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced that the Government of Canada will be granting permanent residence to more partners, spouses, and dependant children of Canadian citizens and permanent residents in 2016 than previously planned. This is part of a greater effort to significantly reduce the backlog of applications and speed up processing times, with the ultimate goal of bringing more families together.
Every year in the Government of Canada’s annual immigration levels plan, it sets the number of permanent residents Canada will admit through its various immigration categories that year.
In 2016, the Government added to the number of spaces available for spouses, partners and dependants by 14,000, bringing the total for those categories up to 62,000 available spaces.
The current backlog is the result of more people applying under the spousal category in the last few years than there were available spaces.
In their news release, the government stated that “tackling the spousal backlog will ease the uncertainty faced by spouses and partners wanting to move forward and build their lives in Canada with their family and help them integrate into our communities and our economy.”
In Budget 2016, an additional $25 million was allocated to allow for faster and more predictable processing times for family sponsorship.
What does this mean if you’re an applicant?
The reduction in the backlog means that IRCC will be processing completed and straightforward spousal sponsorship applications will be processed much faster. Want to ensure your application is completed and straightforward? Schedule a consultation with David Aujla today!