Family sponsorship opportunities for Calgary immigrants get a boost for 2019

Immigrants living in Calgary have an improved chance to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada as a new round of government sponsorship applications gets underway this month.

The practice of bringing parents and grandparents to Canada to live ispopular among immigrants from places like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, to name just a few.

This year the federal government has upped the number of applications to 20,000, from 17,000 last year, with many in Calgary joining the competition for those spots.

"As the children we want to help our parents and we want to support them," said Harpinder Sidhu, who already successfully sponsored his parents to join him and his family in Calgary from India.

"In the northeast we see a lot of new immigrants and all of them want to support their parents. Sometimes they need their parents to take care of their childrenor they want their children to mix with their familyso new immigrants are excited about this program," said Sidhu, who has lived in Canada for 12 years.

The government is scrapping its random lottery system for applicants this year, replacing it with a first-come-first-served system that many believe is fairer.

This year applicants will fill out an 'interest to sponsor' form online and will be invited to apply, if eligible, in the order the interest to sponsor documentsare received.

It can be a long and difficult road for many sponsors, with some describing frustrating waits of up to nine years navigating the systembefore parents are allowed to make the journey here.

"We were trying to sponsor our parents for the last three years," said northeast resident Kaniz Fatima, who willtry again this yearto bring her mother to Calgary from Bangladesh.

"I am the only one from my family who's living in Alberta and every year I have to fly, which is expensive. My Mum is on herown and she'd be happy to come live with me," said Fatima. "It's really lonely here."

"It's stressful for us to wait to see what will happen," she added.

Strict financial requirements

Relatives have to undergo extensive medicalsand sponsors have to meet and maintain strict financial requirements to prove they're able to provide for their parents when they do arrive.

It's a busy start to theyear for immigration specialists as they work with families and individuals looking to apply, withmanyof whom quickly discovering they're unableto meet thefinancial requirements needed for an application to succeed.

Applicants sponsoring parents need to meet the minimum income requirement of $40,379for each of the three taxation years preceding the application date.

Add grandparents to that application and that figure rises to $60,271.

This year Alberta's economic struggles areexpected to scupper many applications.

"Last couple of years people may have picked up some jobs, good income, however 2015 and 2016 their income maybe was low so they don't meet the requirements," said SujitKumar Saha, an immigration consultant based in northeast Calgary.

"The government is encouraging potential sponsors to study what the requirements are before they submit their expression of interest and income is a big thing," said Saha.

Saha says a lot of people don't realize theyalso have to maintain the minimum income requirements during the process of the application.

But there are positives too.

"The last couple of years the government introduced this lottery system that a lot of sponsors were upset about and this year this is very good news for potential sponsors that's they know for sure if their name has been accepted," said Saha.

"This year the government will accept 20,000 applications. This is an increased opportunity and this is good news for sponsors," Saha added.

People looking to sponsor their parents or grandparents can begin the new process as of Jan. 28.

Saha says processing times for trouble-free applications should be around 24 months, according to the government website.

Rejected applications are non-refundable.

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