New temporary public policy will allow visitors to apply for a work permit without having to leave Canada

OTTAWA, ON, Aug. 24, 2020 /CNW/ - Visitors who are currently in Canada and have a valid job offer will be able to apply for an employer-specific work permit and, if approved, receive the permit without having to leave the country, thanks to a new public policy announced today by the Honourable Marco E.L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

Seniors Look to Super Visa Program to Join Loved Ones in Canada

With Canada’s Parent and Grandparent sponsorship immigration program (PGP) currently closed for new applications, parents and grandparents who want to join their children and grandchildren in Canada may do so through the Super Visa program, which remains open.

IRCC Updates Document Requirements for Super Visa Program

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly known as CIC) has updated the documents required in order to submit an application for the Super Visa Program, which allows the parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to come to Canada as visitors for an extended period.

Lottery system to allow immigrants to sponsor parents, grandparents opens Oct. 13

The federal government is returning to a controversial lottery system to distribute coveted sponsorships to reunite immigrant families.

Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino today announced details of the new parent and grandparent sponsorship program. The program will open Oct. 13 for a three-week window when people can fill out online forms to express interest in bringing their relatives to Canada. The program had been suspended due to the global pandemic.

How to improve Canada’s Parents and Grandparents immigration program in 2020

January has typically marked the opening of the window for immigrants to express their interest in sponsoring family under Canada’s Parents and Grandparents Program, or PGP.

However, given the challenges Canada has had managing the PGP and the recent federal election in October, it remains unknown as to when the PGP intake window will open in 2020 and what the application process will look like.

Parents and Grandparents sponsorship: The Super Visa option

The latest expression of interest period of Canada’s Parents and Grandparents Program on January 28 saw more than 100,000 individuals try to access the required form and only 27,000 get through. 

In response to widespread criticism that the process was unfair, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said eligible sponsors who did not manage to submit an Interest to Sponsor form on January 28 may still be able to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada on a temporary basis on what’s known as a Super Visa.

It Pays To Have Backup Plans: "Golden Visas" And HNW Americans

(An earlier version of this article appeared last Friday in Family Wealth Report, sister news service to this one. Although written from a US perspective, its relevance is plainly global.)

This news service reported on how former Google head, Eric Schmidt, had acquired a “golden visa” offered by Cyprus, one of many jurisdictions offering citizenship/residency-by-investment programmes. The circumstances are controversial because Cyprus’s programme has been recently suspended following a political scandal. These visa programmes have been attacked for enabling money laundering, although industry figures contest such claims. Dozens of jurisdictions, such as Malta, Spain, Grenada, Mauritius, the UK and even the US offer versions of these arrangements.

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Visa struggles prevent student from completing doctorate

Beheshteh Rakhshan says she never got to finish her doctoral degree because her visa was rejected.

“It was a big surprise to me,” she said. “I’m not criminal; I’m just a student.”

Rakhshan, a former Iranian doctoral student in the College of Science, first reapplied for her expired visa in May 2019. The officer told her that her case was settled and she’d be informed about the status of her request soon, she said.