Canada ends refugee family sponsorship exemption

The Canadian government has ended a temporary policy that allowed certain refugees to sponsor family members, such as children or spouses, who were not originally declared in their initial residency applications.

This measure had been in place for seven years to address gaps in standard immigration rules. Under normal regulations, permanent residents are typically barred from sponsoring family members if they were not included in their original documentation. Advocates and academics had previously argued that these rules created significant hardships for parents who discovered children were still alive or had additional children after filing their applications.

The policy expired on Thursday. A spokesperson for the ministry stated that affected individuals may now instead apply for exemptions based on humanitarian or compassionate grounds. A previous memo regarding the policy noted that approximately 2,000 applications had been received and that the measure posed a ‘minimal risk’ to the integrity of the immigration program.