Raising voices against the Injustice of the Parents sponsorship laws

[Sam961]

I have been checking this forum for quite a while now but never thought of registering before because I did not have anything to contribute. I used to always land on these forums when researching the web for answers regarding sponsoring my parents to Canada.

In the beginning of January (2016), I submitted a sponsorship application for my parents. I have been checking the forums daily since I submitted my application and noticed that many others are facing the same stress and anxiety I feel. To sum it all up, I believe there is a great injustice from our government and specifically the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship of Canada when it comes to the Parents sponsorship program. We, as Canadian citizens (or Landed immigrants) have the right to be treated in a fair manner if we decide to sponsor our parents to live with us. Currently, we are not. Canada is one of the world's greatest nations, if not the greatest, and it's citizens rights, freedom and social justice, are the number one priority for any government - Conservative or Liberal. This is what makes Canada great. However, when it comes to Citizens sponsoring their parents or their spouses, the government and the ministry in charge is not prioritizing the needs and issues Canadian citizens are facing. Correct me if I am wrong or if you do not agree.

Reasons and data to support my claim (injustice treatment):

• The wait times are ridiculous (for some countries, the total processing times takes 10+ years) Our parents are getting too old or dying before they can join us.
• The 5000, or now 10,000 cap is getting out of hand. Canadians deal with the stress year long of not being able to make the cap. No guarantees! Our emotions, feelings and needs to have our parents with us are a gamble with this cap.
• Canada respects family values but not in our case. It is definitely not a priority for the government to help it's citizens reunite with their families.

If we, the citizens of Canada, put enough pressure on our government, the ministry is capable of fixing this issue. Simply raising the budget and allowing for the ministry to train and hire more employees to handle the cases can fix the majority of our issues. When the government does not see this a priority, the budget remains the same and applications will take years to process and being able to even submit an application becomes a luxury.

The majority of us are hard working Canadians, paying a lot of taxes annually. We all want one thing from our government in return and it's to be able to bring our parents to live with us in a timely manner.

I want all of those currently in the process of sponsoring their parents/grand parents to give me their opinion on the above if please and also let me know if you are willing to protest and raise the voice to demand for justice.
Many things can be done if there is enough people willing to take part in a movement that is determined and willing to go to the end.

We can start with the most basic steps: signing petitions and contacting the minister in large numbers. We can organize protests in different cities or in Ottawa. I am personally willing to travel to Ottawa for the purpose of protesting during cabinet meetings - how many others would be willing to do so? I am also willing to invest into making our voices heard by getting the news of a potential movement to all citizens and inviting all of those in the same situation to join the movement. Many steps can be taken until the minister is willing to hear our voices and push for a change. I would personally start with signing a petition, contacting the ministry, organizing protest, joining protest camps in open-protests, taking part of Protest fasts and hunger strikes. I am basically willing to go to the end with this and do whatever it takes to make a change and I am wondering how many others feel that this is possible and believe that such an organized movement that we can start together and help grow can make a difference in the current laws. Let's start from here, if we have a small group willing to start, I guarantee you that we will grow it and make our voices heard!

Thank you.

 

[scylla]

FYI...

Point #1 in your argument is one of the main reasons why the caps were introduced. People wanted the waiting times to go down so they started limiting applications. The waiting times have actually started to drop and provided the cap remains in place, CIC is projecting they will get down to the 4 year mark in a few years (it obviously takes time for the waiting times to drop since there's currently a backlog that CIC has to work through). Anything below 4 years is probably never going to happen since there are spousal sponsorship that take 3+ years and these should obviously take precedence over parents.

I think this is one of those situations where you have to pick the candidate you're backing. Either encourage our government to stick to the caps so that wait times go down (understanding this means some won't be able to sponsor). Or encourage our government to remove the caps completely so that everyone can sponsor their parents (understanding that this will drive waiting times back up).

If you are expecting the government to simply increase the budget to address these problems, understand that this is going to come on the backs of tax payers (the fees paid by applicants do not cover the costs to process applications). While you may feel this is a worthwhile use of our tax dollars, this will be a difficult sell to the average Canadian tax payer who wants that money to go elsewhere - like the the health care system or schools. So it's really not just as simple as increasing the budget and hiring more people. It's a great deal more complicated than that. A petition simply saying "increase the budget so that our parents can come here sooner" isn't going to get any traction. That's not a realistic solution. A realistic solution could be "increase the fees substantially to cover an increased budget". Then you're offering a solution.

 

[truesmile]

I agree 100% with scylla.

You're a smart guy Sam (smart enough to put that post together). Seems to me you're smart enough to get an application in under the cap. I'll never have the chance to try, although I'm tempted to do so, just to prove that if there's a will, there's a way.

 

[Rob_TO]

the government and the ministry in charge is not prioritizing the needs and issues Canadian citizens are facing. Correct me if I am wrong or if you do not agree.

Actually the reason for the cap and processing times is to protect the 99% of citizens who are not sponsoring any parents. The reason for the rules as they are now can be summed up in one word - healthcare. Stats show that the average age of a PGP applicant getting PR, is 65. And in Canada those aged 65 and over represent a small portion of the population, but account for almost 50% of all Canada's healthcare costs. Not to mention in many cities healthcare is already facing lots of problems with long wait times and difficulties to find family doctors.

It's all the citizens and PRs of Canada that are paying taxes that go to pay PGP PR's healthcare bills. For this reason, you will not find much support for speeding up the PGP process outside of those who are actually sponsoring their parents.

In terms of applying, many wealthy countries are even more prohibitive. The US only allows citizens to sponsor parents, and doesn't give them medicare upon arriving. In Australia the wait times are 10-20 years. In Canada it's essential that the number of PGP PR visas the government issues each year is controlled. As to what that ideal number should be per year, is debatable. But as long as they have quotas in place, then there are bound to be long wait times unless a cap is put in place to control it. Remember that wait times have nothing to do with how long it takes to actually process a PGP app or what the budget is for processing, it has to do with backlogs created over many years by setting targets on how many visas are issued per year, and how many apps are allowed to be submitted per year. What the fairest way is to submit an app is also debatable, whether you think it should be online or a lottery system or making requirements even more strict.
Regardless, a generic petition or protests won't do much here as the majority of Canadians are most likely in favour of the current rules.

 

[canadausa#11]

I have to completely disagree with the claimed 'injustice' of the parents sponsorship laws. In fact I think Canada is actually too nice to their own detriment with them, especially with the proposed doubling of the cap. In my opinion it's focusing on the wrong thing (no offense to those wanting to sponsor parents or grandparents) and am surprised its what they made a big point in their election campaign. I thought the focus should really have been in reducing wait times for spousal over trying to make a big whoop out of doubling getting parents and grandparents in.


As has been noted its doubling the amount of people who are a) retired/elderly b) soon to be and the whole country now as now to chip in for their healthcare and support. And that is how your average Canadian who will never sponsor a parent or grandparent is going to look at it too.

 

[SeulDansMonBocal]

If they need to be any kind of immigration reform PGP should be the last to be considered. Parents coming here are near the age of retirement and will be the ones getting sick and draining the health care without ever putting a dime in it. I think they should even include a sponsor commitment to provide private health care for any parent who is over 65. We need to focus on family reunification and finding better way to keep the international students in canada.

 

[jhutti]

People vote conservatives. In long run so called health care need to be private for all citizens. So called 99 percent who boost about paying taxes for haelthcare should just like in US be able to buy private insurance.
Then no one will have issue in allowing parents here. We pay highest bracket taxes and have no issue in buying private insuance for our selve and our family including parents given the option

 

[Rob_TO]

I think they should even include a sponsor commitment to provide private health care for any parent who is over 65.

While interesting in theory, this has zero chance of even being discussed at the government level. Canada has a public healthcare system for all citizens and PRs, end of story. A 2-tier system where some citizens/PRs get public healthcare and others have to pay for it privately, is not aligned with Canada's view on what healthcare should be.

 

[jhutti]

If they need to be any kind of immigration reform PGP should be the last to be considered. Parents coming here are near the age of retirement and will be the ones getting sick and draining the health care without ever putting a dime in it. I think they should even include a sponsor commitment to provide private health care for any parent who is over 65. We need to focus on family reunification and finding better way to keep the international students in canada.

Conservative support two tier health system. Citizen should have option to get out of public haelth system and buy private one. Then we can bring parents also fold then in private insurance. Just like US rules. Even cpp and pension should get private All benefit system concept should align with what conservatives think

 

[mikeymyke]

Contrary to what most people believe, Canada actually has one of the most generous parent/grandparent sponsorship systems out of the major wealthy nations like Australia, UK, and USA.

Australia:

-to sponsor parents, they must pass the "balance of family test", where at least half of their children have to be Australian permanent residents, or spent most of their time living in Australia
-have 2 main sponsorship streams: 1) Expedited sponsorship: Parents can arrive within 2 yrs, but have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to prevent them from using social benefits for a while. 2) Regular sponsorship: Pay reasonable visa application fees, but will take 20+ years to arrive.

UK:

-the child must live in the UK for at least 7 years before being eligible
-parents must pass certain proficiency of English

USA:

-parents not eligible for Medicare upon arriving
-child must be a US citizen to sponsor, green card holders are not eligible
-expensive private health care system, despite having Medicare, severely ill parents can cause significant financial distress to sponsors

Canada:

-one of the few countries that actually allow grandparents to be sponsored
-sponsor does not need to be a citizen, can sponsor as a permanent resident
-parents do not have any language requirements to enter
-parents/sponsors won't be burdened by healthcare costs
-one child can sponsor both parents, sponsor's spouse is able to add his/her income to meet LICO + 30% income requirement, no "balance of family" test requirement

So you can see, I'd say Canada has a very generous parent sponsorship system compared to the rest of them. And you have to remember, the percentage of people who want to sponsor their parents compared to the rest of the population is very small, and the vast majority of taxpayers here don't wish to pay for welfare/healthcare costs for people who hardly pay into the system. You'd have to understand that from a taxpayer's point of view.

If there is no limit to sponsorship, hospitals would be overcrowded with parents, and then you will start complaining about that. Then when your taxes go up to build more hospitals, you will be complaining about that as well. So just be happy that at least Canada has a very generous system compared to everyone else.

 

[Rob_TO]

Conservative support two tier health system. Citizen should have option to get out of public haelth system and buy private one. Then we can bring parents also fold then in private insurance. Just like US rules. Even cpp and pension should get private All benefit system concept should align with what conservatives think

Then you will have cases like in the US, where people end up dying because they let their health insurance lapse, and are unable to get care from the public system. This will never happen.

 

[Aragorn165]

I had a question about how family sponsorship works- say I was sponsoring my parents, what is required of them in the process? I know they have to pass admissibility tests (so medical, background, and criminal checks), but what else? Their employment history isn't needed, right? How about IELTS scores? Their degrees and credentials assessed?

Please let me know, I am entirely unfamiliar with how this process works.

 

[Rob_TO]

I had a question about how family sponsorship works- say I was sponsoring my parents, what is required of them in the process? I know they have to pass admissibility tests (so medical, background, and criminal checks), but what else? Their employment history isn't needed, right? How about IELTS scores? Their degrees and credentials assessed?

Please let me know, I am entirely unfamiliar with how this process works.

They don't need to IELTS, language, degrees, etc. None of this is required for any family class application.

Just as you said, parents/grandparents must pass medical and security background checks, and that's about it. Sponsor of course needs to meet specific income requirements.

 

[Aragorn165]

They don't need to IELTS, language, degrees, etc. None of this is required for any family class application.

Just as you said, parents/grandparents must pass medical and security background checks, and that's about it. Sponsor of course needs to meet specific income requirements.

Awesome, thanks! Another question- if I were to sponsor my mother to come into Canada via Family Sponsorship, could she work there, live independently, and so on? Or does sponsorship mandate financial dependence?

 

[PMM]

Hi

Awesome, thanks! Another question- if I were to sponsor my mother to come into Canada via Family Sponsorship, could she work there, live independently, and so on? Or does sponsorship mandate financial dependence?

1. Once she is a PR she can do whatever she wishes. She just can't collect welfare, if she does, you will be responsible for paying it back.