Parental sponsorship
Since January of 2014, CIC allows for 5,000 application per year for sponsoring parents from overseas. In 2014, the program was “full” by the first week of February, 2014. But, then it was discovered that 5,000 applications were received by mid-January, 2014, by the evidence of the returning of all applications received between mid-January and the first week of February, 2014 in September/October of 2014!
In 2015, 5,000 applications were received by January 16th, 2015 and the acceptance was closed. Now CIC is returning all applications received after January 6th, 2015. So 5,000 applications were received from January 2nd, 2015 (Friday), January 5 (Monday) and January 6th (Tuesday) – 3 business days.
For 2016, it is totally reasonable to estimate that all 5,000 applications would be received on the first day – January 2nd, 2016. AND, it is also reasonable to estimate that some of those applications received on January 2nd, 2016 would not make to 5,000 application quota.
If you have any individual questions or concerns, please contact our office for more customized consultation for your unique situation. Please note that this posting is for general information only and is not to be considered binding or official legal counsel since situations will vary and can be complicated. The content in this post is current as of the day of entry. Due to the changing nature of Immigration law, the information in this entry may or may not still be applicable.
Hi there,
I applied this year for the parent sponsor to cic..and my application was received on jan 6 2015 but was returned and I got it in the mail today. The date stamp shows on my application that it was received on Jan 6 2015. Your article tells that accepted application which are complete were done at this date which is not correct based on what I received from cic. Also for others there application was returned back but there application was received jan 5 2015.
Dear Payal: Thanks for your comment. 5,000 applications quote is the limit, but it is not just “an application”, but “a complete application”.
As a result, CIC needs to open each envelope to see if the received application is “completed” according to the regulation.
So CIC receives as many as they think potentially make 5,000 completed application. Then, CIC goes through each received application and assesses if it is fully completed. That takes time unfortunately. As a result, CIC announces the date to close, like January 16th for 2015 first. Then, CIC makes an actual cut-off as they receive.
Unfortunately, it is not the exact science of “date stamp”, but based on the content of each application and even time of each application is received, which does not show on the date stamp unfortunately.
Thanks for sharing your frustration with this system. I understand that frustration.
Thank you for concise explanation to this process. It was helpful!
My application was complete but wasn’t considered under the 5000 cap of completed applications.
CIC acknowledged my application that they received it on Jan-6-2015 with a date stamp but was later returned as they had exceeded the cap way earlier. This was clearly stated on the letter from CIC.
Also, I sent it via Canada post on the 30th Dec. with gurantee delivery for Jan 2nd but due to the holiday rush it was delayed by canada post, and because of that, I missed the opportunity this year.
Will try again next year and see if it goes through..
Next time you may wish to use an overnight courier – like Fed Express, UPS or Puroator. Canada Post Express is for 2-3 business days. Take care