Canada launched a new family reunification pilot program

Any foreign national submitting application for permanent residence in Canada needs to provide information about their family members. However, many refugees and economic immigrants, do not declare some of their family members as they think this might decrease their chances to get the PR status. Earlier, this made such family members not eligible for family sponsorship. On September 9, 2019, the federal government launched a pilot program for two years under which refugees and other immigrants can disclose their family members and sponsor them. The pilot will run until September 9, 2021. The goal of this pilot is to facilitate family reunification and ensure that defendants who were not declared are not further penalized and barred from entering Canada. To enable this pilot, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) amended the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

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