Parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents can now stay in the country for up to seven consecutive years.
On Tuesday, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced the change to the “super visa“, which previously only allowed stays of up to two years.
“Families are at the heart of Canadian society,” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said in a Press release. “Enhancements to the super visa program allow family members to be together longer in Canada, helping Canadian citizens and permanent residents succeed and contribute to society, while also providing their parents and grandparents invaluable opportunities to spend time with their family in Canada.
Super visa holders can now stay in Canada for up to five years per entry, with the option to apply for an extension of up to two years. The new change takes effect on July 4.
The super visa program was launched in 2011 to allow parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to visit the country for extended periods. The child or grandchild who takes them in must comply minimum income requirements, and applicants must also pass a medical exam and provide proof of private health insurance. Under the new changes, approved international health insurance providers will be able to join Canadian companies in offering coverage.
Super visas are valid for up to 10 years and can be used for multiple entries. Previously they only allowed visitors up to two years at a time. The length of stay for regular Canadian visitor visas is typically six months or less. Canada issues approximately 17,000 super visas a year.
The announcement comes as Parliament’s citizenship and immigration committee continues discussions on private member bill C-242Launched in February and sponsored by Conservative MP Kyle Seeback.
The private member’s bill includes provisions similar to those announced by the federal immigration ministerincluding changes that would allow super visa applicants to purchase private health insurance outside of Canada, as well as an extension of the period of stay to five years.
“Once again the Liberals are taking credit for common sense Conservative ideas and trying to pass them off as their own,” Seeback and MP Jasraj Singh Hallan, the Conservative shadow immigration minister, said in a joint statement on Monday. Tuesday.
They also point to previous opposition to aspects of the private member bill from Liberal MP Marie-France Lalonde, parliamentary secretary to the immigration minister, who on May 3 said“The government does not support the member’s proposal to allow super visa applicants to purchase private health insurance from foreign companies.”
“Conservatives have been supporting Bill C-242 since it was introduced in the House, and more recently, Conservative members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM) highlighted the importance of these changes for new Canadians among the Opposing Liberals,” the Conservatives’ statement said.
“Clearly this was nothing more than political theater to take credit for good ideas.”
While the changes are likely to be good news for those with families abroad, getting a super visa could take months or more.
Canada has been experiencing massive immigration backlogs, causing visa processing times to increase as officials work to process a backlog of more than two million applications.
With current processing timesa super visa could take at least 146 days to process if applied from India, up to 458 days if applied from the United States.
Archived by CTVNews.ca Writer Michael Lee
Reference-www.ctvnews.ca