Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, made an announcement today, May 26th, 2023, on reforms to strengthen family-class immigration in Canada.
Among the New Measures are:
Temporary residence visa (TRV) processing times are reduced for spousal applicants.
New and specific tools for spousal TRV candidates
A new open work permit is now available for spousal and family class candidates.
Open work permit renewals are available for open work permit holders whose permits expire between August 1st and the end of 2023.
Fraser started the statement by noting that family members from visa-required countries who have applied for family class permanent residency (PR) can apply for Temporary Resident Visas (TRV) to join their sponsor in Canada.
He claims that far too many are turned down on the grounds that they are unlikely to return home, despite the fact that the vast majority are granted permanent status when their applications are ultimately reviewed.
Fraser went on to state that IRCC has successfully removed the backlog of TRV applications for family members who already have a permanent residency application under consideration. The IRCC's new approach to spousal TRV applications has accepted more than 98% of applications for spouses and their children, allowing them to stay with their families while their PR applications are processed.
According to Fraser, this new technique for processing TRV applications will result in processing times of less than 30 days in the future. Family members will be able to fly to Canada more swiftly and spend more time with their loved ones.
IRCC is also introducing a new project that will grant open work permits to spouse applicants and their dependent children who have temporary residence status in Canada and live with their sponsor.
Spouses, partners, and dependents can apply for and acquire an open work permit after submitting a comprehensive permanent residence application under the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class (SPCLC) or other family class programs.
These open work permits were previously only available for the inland spousal program, but are now available to people applying from outside Canada.
Finally, commencing June 7th, open work permit holders whose current permission expires between August 1st and the end of 2023 can renew their permit for an additional 18 months through a free assisted process, affecting around 25,000 persons who are currently in Canada and working. This includes the spouses and dependents of most temporary workers, as well as the spouses of international students, and permanent residence applicants, as well as their spouses/dependents, who are awaiting the finalization of their permanent status.