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Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, January 27
Thousands of Punjabis living in Canada as permanent residents will benefit from the Canadian Parents and Grandparents (PGP-2019) Programme launched by the government under which their parents and grandparents will be able to join them in that country.
The PGP programme accords the Canadians and permanent residents an opportunity to call their parents and grandparents to Canada for living with them permanently under its family reunification scheme.
The programme will help thousands of those Punjabis and other immigrants who have got settled in Canada as permanent residents, but whose parents or grandparents were still living in their native countries. They face difficulties for they were too busy in their work or study to take care of their small children -a job which was easily handled by their parents and grandparents.
The interest to sponsor parents and grandparents form will be available to potential sponsors from January 28 onwards under the new programme, which has been launched by the Government of Canada after listening to and addressing concerns of those permanent residents who had applied or availed the facility under the previous intake process, Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen has said.
The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will accept interest to sponsor submissions or forms for a limited time. After this it will invite potential sponsors to submit a complete application. The cap of the number of applications has been fixed at 20,000 - a straight four-time intake increase as compared to applications accepted in 2015. The sharp increase was made possible by an over an 80 per cent reduction of the application backlog and processing times that have got cut from a long seven to eight years to just about two years.
The programme has been launched with a view to provide a first-in-first-served approach for 2019 with a view to keep the application process fair for all via an easy-to-access electronic method for the applicants.
The potential sponsors of their parents and grandparents will be encouraged to familiarise themselves with the new improved intake process for 2019. The improvements include a requirement for potential sponsors to upload a copy of their status document in Canada while submitting their interest to sponsor form.
The interest to sponsor form has been modified in such a so as to enable the IRCC to detect duplicate submissions and to keep any potential frauds at bay.
The ministry has advised all potential sponsors to submit an interest to sponsor form as soon as possible once it was available online and after confirming that they were meeting the necessary minimum income requirements. The onus is on potential sponsors to ensure they are eligible before submitting an interest to sponsor form.
The potential sponsors have also been advised against submitting their application forms until they were invited to do so for the 2019 PGP programme, otherwise their application forms would be sent back to them.
Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen has said family reunification was an immigration priority for the Government of Canada as it supported the country's economic prosperity and strengthened communities further.
The parents and grandparents often extend their help for caring for children and thus, increasing their parents' ability to study and work and making a meaningful contribution to the communities and the country.
Upon having invited by the IRCC, potential sponsors will have 60 calendar days from the date of their invitation to ensure that the IRCC received their complete application for sponsorship.
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