May 26, 2023 – Immigration Blog | MainstreamCanadian.ca – The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced today measures to deliver on the minister’s mandate letter commitment to strengthen family reunification. Minister Fraser was joined by the Honourable Hedy Fry, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre, British Columbia.
Minister Fraser announced faster temporary resident visa (TRV) processing and more considerate application measures so that families can be together sooner while they wait for their permanent residence to be finalized. Going forward, most of these applications will be processed within 30 days, and applicants will benefit from processing measures specific to their circumstances as spouses and dependants.
The Minister shared the details at the press conference and made the emphasis on following points:
- Immigration is who we are, it is part of our DNA in Canada
- Reuniting families leads to improved emotional well-being, physical health, mental health and financial stability for the families who want to come to our country
- Ambitious family reunification policy is also an ambitious economic policy that helps create a competitive landscape for our country in the global hunt for talent
- The new approach to spousal TRV applications has approved well in advance of 98% of applications of spouses and their kids so they can be with their families while they wait for the processing of their permanent residency applications
- Going forward, this new approach to processing spousal and children’s TRV applications are going to lead to a processing time of within 30 days
- Family members will be able to travel to Canada quickly and be with their loved ones sooner than what previously was the case
- After new comers arrive to Canada, it is important that they are able to support themselves, that’s why, the Minister stated further, and announced the launching of a new initiative that will issue open work permits to spousal applicants and their dependant children regardless of whether they applied under the Family class program for overseas applicants, or under the spouse or common law partner in Canada class.
Finally, Minister Fraser announced that spousal applicants, along with other open work permit holders, whose open work permits expire between August 1 and the end of 2023, will be able to extend their work permits for an additional 18 months. A similar option was recently offered to many with expiring post-graduation work permits.
Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada Live Stream and Media Release
