It will be a little more expensive to move to Canada with a permanent residence in May.
On April 5, the Canadian Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) updated on its website that Canada is increasing fees for all applications for permanent residence (PR), including economy classes, permit holders’ classes, family classes and humanitarian classes.
The change will take effect on April 30th, which means that those hoping to move to the country after that date will have to set aside extra money for the process.
What is PR and who can apply?
A permanent resident (PR) is a person who is not a Canadian citizen but has the right to live and work in this country without a deadline for his / her stay.
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Such a person has most of the same rights as a Canadian citizen – they receive many of the same social benefits, including contributions to the Canadian Pension Plan and coverage from the universal health care system in their province or territory.
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What they are not happy about, however, is the right to vote in the Canadian election. Nor can they run for office at any level of government. They also cannot hold jobs in the public or private sector that require a high level of security screening – on national security issues. They are also not allowed to join the Canadian Armed Forces or the police.
To become a permanent resident of Canada, you must apply to the IRCC for one of their several programs available to foreigners. Programs include express entry, a program to apply to the province and skilled workers in Quebec, an immigration class in the Atlantic, economic pilots, a caregiver and caregiver pilot program, business (federal and Quebec), family reunification, protected persons, humanitarian and compassionate and others.
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Why is Canada raising fees?
The move to increase fees is not new.
These cost increases are intended to ensure that Canada remains up to par with and well coordinated with fees charged by other immigrant host countries with somewhat similar immigration systems, such as Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, among others.
It also contributes a lot to Canada’s economy, according to Canada’s immigration minister.
Successive Canadian governments have relied on immigration to stimulate economic growth amid falling birth rates, which reached record lows in 2020. With the pandemic sparking early retirement among aging Canadians, attracting immigrants has become more important. In addition, the country targets highly skilled immigrants who are willing to contribute money and earn enough to compete for desirable housing.
“Canada needs immigration to create jobs and stimulate our economic recovery,” Canadian Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said last December. “Not only is every third Canadian business owned by an immigrant, but newcomers are helping to tackle labor shortages.”
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From 2020, Canada will increase its residence tax every two years. It was then announced that fees would be raised every two years to take account of inflation.
According to the IRCC website, the Canadian government “supports a cost-effective approach to funding government programs.” These increases are therefore “the responsibility of those who receive and benefit directly from the services” and do not in any way affect taxpayers.
The next increase in fees at the federal level can be expected in 2024.
How much is the difference?
The current right to a permanent residence fee for a lead candidate and accompanying spouse or civil partner is $ 500. This is expected to be $ 515 by April 30.
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For the federal program for highly skilled, provincial applicants and skilled workers in Quebec, the Atlantic Immigration Class, and most economic pilots, including rural and agri-food, the new fee for key applicants will be $ 850 instead of $ 825. Accompanying spouses or civil partners will also pay $ 850. For a dependent child, the price will be $ 230, unlike the previous $ 225.
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For those participating in the Foster Care Program and caregiver pilots, the lead applicant will have to pay $ 570 instead of $ 550, as will his or her spouse. The dependent child fee will be $ 155, compared to the previous $ 150. More details can be found on the IRCC website.
For permanent residence cards, permanent residence documents and identification or replacement immigration documents, the fees will remain the same.
What is Canada doing to support the process?
As part of Canada’s immigration plan, the federal government has pledged $ 2.1 billion over five years and $ 317.6 million in new funding in the 2022 budget to help process and settle new residents.
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In 2021, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global migration, Canada was able to accept more than 405,000 new permanent residents, the largest number of newcomers in a year in Canadian history, according to the IRRC.
In an email to Global News, the IRCC confirmed that it has exceeded “its goal of making 147,000 final permanent residence decisions in the first quarter of 2022 – doubling the number of final decisions over the same period in 2021.”
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“From January 1, 2022 to March 31, 2022, we made over 156,000 final decisions on applications for permanent residence,” an IRCC spokesman told Global News.
Canada welcomes at least 113,000 new permanent residents in the first quarter of 2022, he said, adding that the IRCC is seeking “a more integrated, modernized and centralized work environment to help speed up the processing of applications in world Wide”.
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“Supported by additional funding of $ 85 million from the 2021 economic and fiscal update, we continue our efforts to reduce the stockpile of applications accumulated during the pandemic.
“Government funding is helping to build on the work already done to reduce waiting times, such as hiring new processing staff, digitizing applications and redistributing work among our offices around the world,” he said.
– with files from Reuters
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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