The Impact of the Amended Definition on the Processing of Family Class Sponsorship Applications
- The Duration of Family Class Sponsorship Undertakings
- The regulatory amendments that supper the new definition of a dependent child include changes to certain sections of Paragraph 132 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR)
- These sections govern the duration of sponsorship obligations
- The duration of undertaking for sponsorship of dependent children of the sponsor or of the sponsor’s spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner, or of persons specified in R117 (1) (g) – children that the applicants could adopt in Canada – would change
- These changes would come into effect from August 01, 2014
- The changes include:
- If the individuals are below 19 years of age when they become permanent residents, the duration of sponsorship ends on the earlier of:
- The last day of the period of 10 years following the day on which these individuals became permanent residents or,
- The day on which the foreign national reaches 22 years of age
- This is in accordance with R132 (1) (b) (ii)
- If the dependent children are 19 years of age or above when they become permanent residents, the duration of sponsorship ends on the last day of the period of three years following the day on which these individuals become permanent residents
- This is in accordance with R132 (1) (b) (iii)
- If the individuals are below 19 years of age when they become permanent residents, the duration of sponsorship ends on the earlier of:
- These amendments specify one significant change i.e. they reduce the age from 25 to 22 years for the age limit at which the sponsorship obligation period ends for a dependent child
- The authorities have included these changes in the new version of Form IMM 1344 i.e. Application to Sponsor, Sponsorship Agreement and Undertaking
- Applicants could refer to this effective August 01, 2014
The Procedures for Sponsorship Applications Including Children Received after August 01, 2014
- The CIC could receive family class sponsorships on or after August 01, 2014
- These could include dependent children as:
- Principal applicants or,
- Accompanying family members
- The CIC officers would need to return such family class sponsorships received using the old IMM 1344 forms to the sponsor
- CIC officers would need to return these applications along with a letter of explanation
- The letter must notify the applicants that they would need to resubmit the application using the new IMM 1344
- Effective August 01, 2014, designated officers at the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga could refuse applications for permanent residence
- They could refuse the applications where:
- The principal applicant is a child, who does not meet the definition of a dependent and,
- The sponsor dopes not elect to forward the application to a visa office, if the authorities deem the sponsor to be ineligible
- CIC officers would need to forward certain permanent residence applications to the appropriate visa office for processing
- These applications could be cases which exhibit an indication that a dependent child (aged 19 years or over) might be financially dependent on a parent because of a physical or a mental condition
- The Case Processing Centre in Mississauga would continue to forward permanent resident applications to the appropriate visa office, where the principal applicant includes the details of a child
Temporary Residents
Regulatory amendments made to the definition of a dependent child do not include any transitional provisions for temporary resident business lines. Therefore, the authorities would apply the new definition of a dependent child in situations where they need to determine whether the child is a dependent of a temporary resident applicant. This process would come into effect on August 01, 2014.
The CIC would apply the pre-amendment definition of a dependent child for temporary resident applications received prior to August 01, 2014. The CIC considers the date of receipt of a temporary resident application submitted on paper as the day:
- They postmark an application in Canada or,
- The designated CIC intake office gives a date stamp to an application overseas
In the case of applications received electronically, the CIC would consider the date of receipt to be the date of submission of the application. These dates equate to the date “an application is made”. This is in accordance with the Regulations.
Situations might arise where children do not qualify for processing as dependents of principal applicants. In this scenario, the officers would need to determine whether children aged 19 years or above are eligible for temporary resident status or not. This would be the case especially as these children might meet the applicable requirements independently.
The Age Lock-in Dates by Immigration Program and Category
The Implementation Scenarios for Transitional Provisions
For each of the transitional provisions, refer to the annexes that appear subsequently in this document. These annexes provide a breakdown of information, which is crucial for determining the lock-in date of the age of a child. They also help officers in understanding whether they need to apply the pre-amendment or the new definition of a dependent child. Factors on which officers would need to base their decisions include the timing of applications or the preliminary requirements for a specific program or category. The annexes also contain some sample scenarios to clarify this issue further.
Source: Citizenship and Immigration