Canada has thrown open its doors to help reunite parents and grandparents with their children who have already settled here. Immigration Minister Joe Volpe has annouced measures to speed up the processing of sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents coming to Canada as family class immigrants.

With these new measures in place, it is expected that in both 2005 and 2006, the number of parents and grandparents immigrating to Canada will increase by an additional 12,000 each year. This triples the original 6,000 forecasted for 2005.

Regular security and health screening will still apply and some parents and grandparents may require health coverage to be admissible to Canada.

CIC has welcomed over one million permanent residents since 2000 and has consistently met its annual immigration targets since that time. However, the number of sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents is growing and more applications are received each day than CIC can process. The backlog currently stands at 100,000.

To address this concern, the Government of Canada is investing $36 million a year over two years to increase processing of parent and grandparent applications and to cover integration costs once they arrive in Canada.

“We are taking action now to address one of the most pressing issues for CIC and to make our processing system as efficient as possible. Reuniting families is a commitment of the Government of Canada as well as a key priority of Canada’s immigration program,” added the minister.

Additional processing will begin immediately. In the coming weeks, CIC will add temporary duty officers and support staff at visa offices with the largest number of applications.