Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship will be joined by Hedy Fry, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre to announce measures in response to the minister’s mandate letter commitment to strengthen family reunification in Canada. The announcement will take place today at 10:30 am Pacific Time (1:30 PM Eastern Time).

Note: This is a developing story. CIC News will update it following the announcement.

Measures to strengthen family reunification – Des mesures pour renforcer la réunification familiale

The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, will announce measures to deliver on the minister’s mandate letter commitment to strengthen family reunification. Minister Fraser will be joined by the Honourable Hedy Fry, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre, British Columbia.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issues mandate letters to outline the priorities expected of their ministers to pursue during their time in power. This letter is a policy document that guides Canada’s immigration system.

In 2021, Trudeau released his mandate letter to Fraser asking him to deliver certain immigration objectives and commitments during his time as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

The mandate letter had many priorities, including a commitment to strengthen family reunification by introducing electronic applications for family reunification and implementing a program that will issue temporary resident status to spouses and children abroad while they wait for their permanent resident application to be processed.

Family class sponsorship

Family class immigration is the second largest category under Canada’s Immigration Level’s Plan. In 2023, Canada hopes to welcome 106,500 newcomers under the family class category, with 78,000 under the spouses, partners and children category and 28,500 under the parents and grandparents category. By 2025, Canada aims to welcome 118,000 newcomers through family class immigration.

Family class sponsorship allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to sponsor a person to join you in Canada and become a permanent resident.

To be eligible as a sponsor, you must:

• Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada
• Be 18 years of age or older
• Not be in prison, bankrupt, under a removal order or charged with a serious offence
• Not have been sponsored as a spouse within the last 5 years.

Spouses, common law and conjugal partners, children, parents and grandparents may all be sponsored, provided they meet the required eligibility criteria.