ARCHIVED – Operational Bulletins 079 – September 26, 2008

Regulatory Amendments: Order of Admission for Permanent Resident Applicants and their Accompanying Family Members

This Operational Bulletin has expired. Please refer to manual OP 7b – Provincial Nominees (PDF, 221.2 KB) for current information.

Background

Regulatory amendments came into force on September 2, 2008 concerning the order of admission for permanent resident applicants and their accompanying family members. The following instruction will be added to relevant operational manuals.

Regulatory amendments

The regulatory amendments specify that accompanying family members of Federal Skilled Workers [R85], Quebec Skilled Workers [R86], Provincial Nominees [R87], Business Immigrants [R107], and Live-in Caregivers [R114.1] may only be granted permanent resident status at the same time as, or after, the principal applicant has been granted permanent resident status. This is consistent with existing requirements for dependents to become permanent residents of Canada in the Family Class category.

This change means that family members of principal applicants cannot become permanent residents before the principal applicant. Previously, there had been situations where family members had sought to become, and could possibly have become, permanent residents prior to the principal applicant.

Procedures

All Economic Class principal applicants’ accompanying family members, who have permanent resident visas and are seeking admission to Canada on or after September 2, 2008, may become permanent residents only if the principal applicant has been granted permanent resident status in accordance with the regulations in effect as of September 2, 2008.

References

• Full text of the regulatory amendments and RIAS can be found at: www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2008/
  2008-03-08/html/reg1-eng.html#k101
• Manual chapters:
  • Processing Members of the Family Class – OP 2
  • Federal Skilled Workers – OP 6
  • Quebec Skilled Workers – OP 7a
  • Provincial Nominees – OP 7b (PDF, 221.2 KB)
  • Entrepreneur and Self Employed – OP 8 (PDF, 488.13 KB)
  • Investors – OP 9 (PDF, 206.88 KB)
  • Processing Applicants for the Live-in Caregiver Program – OP 14 (PDF, 463.58 KB)
  • Processing Live-in Caregivers in Canada – IP 4 (PDF, 302.02 KB)

Questions

Questions about this operational bulletin should be sent to: OMC-Immigration@cic.gc.ca.