Many people have been waiting for news on the Canadian parent sponsor program, which was changed to a lottery system in late 2016. The program opened January 3, 2017 with a deadline of February 2, 2017 in which people could submit an online expression of interest for entry into the program. The online form was so simplistic it frightened many of us – there were no eligibility questions, just a few personal details and contact information needed and voilà you’re in the lottery!
IRCC promised that sometime after February 2, 2017, 10,000 people would be selected at random to submit an application. Those 10,000 people would have 90 days to provide their documents to start the application process. But when would this draw happen? And how? If some of those 10,000 didn’t actually qualify, what would happen to their spots?
IRCC has responded to some of these questions as follows:
…we can’t provide a firm timeline as to when potential sponsors will be contacted but we expect the letters will be sent in the next few weeks.
…the 10,000 who are randomly selected will then receive an email inviting them to apply to sponsor their parents or grandparents. They will have 90 days to send us their complete application. We will also email all those who were not chosen to let them know.
…As per Ministerial Instructions relating to the parent and grandparent program, a maximum of 10 000 sponsorship applications will be accepted for processing each year. 10,000 sponsors will be contacted and will have 90 days to submit a complete application.
…If the Department does not receive 10,000 complete applications within the prescribed time frame, we will invite additional interested sponsors to submit an application. We expect this process to occur before the end of 2017
It doesn’t inspire a lot of hope that IRCC has taken over 2 months to do a computerized selection of the entries they have received.
In case you are stressed about this, look on the bright side: marijuana will be legal in Canada soon.
