Improving family reunification for protected persons

Ottawa, December 4, 2019—People who have received protected person status in Canada often have dependent family members abroad who are living in difficult conditions. When they apply for permanent residency, there are challenges for migration officers, as it’s often difficult to reach their family members.

To address these challenges, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has launched 2 new initiatives: a centralized intake of all permanent resident applications for protected persons and their dependent family members abroad, and a 1-year Centralized Concurrent Processing Pilot.

Centralized intake

Protected persons who have dependent family members abroad can now submit a permanent residence application for themselves and their family members simultaneously at a single location, the IRCC Case Processing Centre in Mississauga.

The new centralized process will allow the protected person in Canada to communicate with IRCC on behalf of their family.

Centralized Concurrent Processing Pilot

Through the Centralized Concurrent Processing Pilot, the IRCC Case Processing Centre in Mississauga will process the applications for permanent residency of both the protected person and their overseas dependent family members.

Family members must live in countries within the areas of responsibility for the migration offices participating in the pilot: Bogota, Buenos Aires, Kingston (Jamaica), Lima, London, Nairobi, Mexico City, Port of Spain and Sao Paulo.

Protected persons who submit an application for permanent resident status on or after December 4, 2019, and whose dependent family members abroad are in one of the selected regions, will be advised if they are eligible for the pilot project.

Applicants must still meet all eligibility and admissibility requirements including medical screening and security and criminality checks.