The process of sponsoring a mom to Canada has gotten a whole lot faster than it was on last Mother’s Day. While still quite slow, statistics show an impressive increase in the overall speed of this process.
At this time last year, CPC Mississauga was taking 23 months to approve a sponsor and to transmit the approval to the Canadian visa post that will be handling the parent’s application. CPC is now taking 29 months to do the same thing.
However, our visa posts overseas have more than made up for this slowdown. Last year Buffalo processed 80 per cent of its cases in 36 months. This year it is doing so in just 14 months, bringing the total processing time to 43 months. Total processing times for applications processed at CPC and then through Beijing dropped from 5.4 to 4.2 years. In New Delhi it went from 6.6 to 3.8 years, and in Damascus from 6.6 years to 3.9. Remember, 20 per cent of these cases take even longer to process.
While the improvement is impressive, it is still taking far too long for Canadians to be reunited with their parents. Canadians wishing to sponsor their moms to Canada will have to wait four years on average, or until Mothers Day 2013, to give them a hug on Canadian soil.
Canadian moms who want to sponsor a nanny under Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program have been given a break by HRSDC with respect to the advertising requirements which they must comply. Effective May 4, 2009, prospective employers must still advertise for a nanny for at least 14 calendar days in the National Job Bank but are no longer required to advertise in a secondary source. This will save Canadian families some money which can only help during these turbulent economic times. It will also eliminate a step which is most often unhelpful in finding a Canadian willing to do this work.
There is also some good news for those moms who already have a nanny here and who want to see them achieve permanent resident status in Canada. Readers may recall my late client, Juana Tejada, about whom I wrote in early March. She is the nanny who successfully completed two years of service here but whose application for permanent residence was refused after she took a second immigration medical exam which revealed that she had terminal cancer. My firm and others took up the cause of the “Juana Tejada Law,” which would exempt nannies from the requirement of taking a second medical exam. While this has not yet become law, this past week its passage was recommended by Parliament’s Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. Should it become law it will be a fitting tribute to a brave and hard-working woman and the many others she represents. It will also make our nanny program much fairer for those who look after our children and our elderly moms and dads.
Definitely, something worth celebrating on Mothers Day.
Guidy Mamann practices law in Toronto at Mamann, Sandaluk and is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as an immigration specialist. Reach him confidentially at 416-862-0000 or at metro@migrationlaw.com.
