Bringing parents and grandparents from abroad can be easier with Canada’s Super Visa, a temporary visa offered by the Canadian government. This piece will explain the benefits of a super visa for foreign parents and grandparents.
Canadians who are willing to bring their overseas parents and grandparents can apply for parents and grandparents super visas. It’s an easy and quick way to welcome the loving ones living overseas.
The super visa
The Canadian government offers a permanent residency pathway, PGP, for the citizen of Canada to bring parents and grandparents to Canada. In contrast, the government also offers multiple entry visitor visas called a super visa with a validity of 10 years.
The super visa holders can stay in Canada for two years once they enter the country without requiring to renew their visa.
The PGP Applications Data
PGP is a PR pathway to bring parents and grandparents living overseas to Canada. The number of individuals applying for PGP suggests the interest of citizens of Canada to bring their parents and grandparents to the country.
For the years 2020 and 2021, IRCC received a total of 2 lakh applications to sponsor parents and grandparents.
These sponsorship applications are not for the PGP; rather, these represent the families seeking the chance to apply for the parents and grandparents program (PGP).
At present, nearly 35,000 PGP applications are present in the IRCC Inventory, which is just a part of the total number of individuals who are willing to apply.
How does IRCC choose who will apply?
In previous years, IRCC used a lottery system to choose from the interested individuals who would get the opportunity to apply for the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP).
The lottery selection system is deemed unfair by critics since newcomers to the candidate pool may be chosen ahead of those who have waited for years.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, however, defended the lottery system, saying that it is fair to everyone as it equalizes all applicants on the same ground, despite the fact that not all will benefit.
On the contrary, the other methods, for example, first-come-first-served, preferred the PGP applicants living near the processing center or those with high-speed data connectivity.
In 2019, It took less than 11 minutes to fill up all PGP vacancies available after the government opened the online application portal.
The benefits of a Super visa over others
The applicants for super visas are not selected by a lottery system and thus provide more assurance to families getting a chance to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada.
Another benefit of a Super visa over other regular visitor visas is that parents and grandparents can stay for a longer time in Canada in comparison to others.
With a regular visitor visa, you can enter the country a single time and enable you to stay for a period of six months. A visa extension may be required if you want to stretch your stay in Canada.
The Canadian government offers multi-entry visitor visas, which permit a maximum stay of 6 months once you enter the country. The validity of such visas is for ten years. Until the validity of the visa expires, you do not require to apply again for a visitor visa.
The Super Visas are special multiple entry visas offered by Canada. The validity of the super visa is of 10 years, and it permits a stay of a maximum of two years once you enter the country without the requirement of visa renewal.
In comparison to the PGP visa, You can get a super visa in a shorter time.
IRCC takes months to process Super Visa, whereas it takes a year to process PGP.
At present, IRCC is facing a backlog of applications. As per the government’s website, the processing of PGP applications can take up to 32 months.
According to reports, Application processing times for Super Visas differ based on where the applicant is applying, but they are taking typically around 100 days for many countries.
You can stay in Canada while you complete your PGP application by obtaining a Super Visa.
You can get legal assistance with both applications (PGP and super visas) if you’d like.
