Immigration lottery system for parent sponsorships to be replaced

First-come, firstserved process next

OTTAWA — The federal government is scrapping an unpopular lottery system for reuniting immigrants with their parents and grandparents and is increasing the number of sponsorship applications it will accept next year.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen announced changes to the sponsorship program for parents and grandparents Monday, which will see the random selection process for sponsorship applications replaced with a first-come-firstserved process.

The government will also accept more parent and grandparent sponsorships in 2019. The current cap of 17,000 applications will be increased to 20,000 next year.

The so-called lottery system for this program drew criticism when it was introduced last year after many potential sponsors said they felt it was unfair.

Ottawa is responding to the feedback Hussen received during a cross-country listening tour last year, the minister said.

“[Canadians] did express some concerns about the lottery, the random-selection process,” Hussen said.

“What I’m announcing this morning is feedback that we got from Canadians that they would like to see changes in the selection process.”

Starting in 2019, potential sponsors will indicate their willingness to sponsor a parent or grandparent by filling out an “interest to sponsor” form online. Instead of randomly selecting people from this list for sponsorship, as is the current policy, applications will instead be invited based on the order in which the forms are received until the 20,000 cap is reached.

“This is a fairer first-in system that will benefit all those who are interested,” Hussen said.

“Of course, once we receive the interest-to-sponsor form and we reach the cap, then we go backward and look at who’s actually qualified to sponsor, because they also have meet certain requirements.”

The applications system has long been the source of criticism. Prior to 2017, applications were prioritized based on geography or would have better odds for success if families could afford to pay for expensive immigration lawyers.

Hussen said he believes the current lottery system is fairer than the system that was in place when the Liberals took office, but believes bringing in a firstcome-first-serve model will further improve this program.