Now expect new and strict immigration rules in Canadian family reunification policy. After an extensive public consultation concerning the abuse of the country's family immigration program, which is facilitated by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, in the form of marriages of convenience, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada found itself in a state to propose new marriage rules for immigrants.
The CIC has put forward its proposal to grant conditional permanent residence to partners and spouses sponsored as members of family by Canadian citizens or residents until they complete a period of 2 years of union. The step was projected as a measure to stop marriages of convenience, while at the same time serving the purpose of family reunification under the Immigration and Refugee Protected Act for genuine partners.
As per the proposal, spouses or partners of Canadian citizens or residents will be granted permanent residence if they stay in a relationship for at least 2 years. Until the completion of 2 years of partnership, a partner from overseas would be granted conditional permanent residence. If the partners fail to continue the relationship for the required time period, the conditional PR will be taken back. A relationship which falls short of satisfying the requirement of conditional permanent residence period would be considered illegitimate.
The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act of Canada allows Canadian permanent residents and citizens to sponsor close family members- spouses, common-law partners and dependent children for Canadian immigration. But over the time it has been noticed that a good percentage of partners or spouses who were believed to be in genuine relationships actually ended up proving their union illegitimate. In other words, they entered into fake relationships just to enter Canada and obtain permanent residence in the country. Sometimes, both the sponsor and the sponsored partner practice this with mutual understanding or precisely they involve in marriages of convenience; and in some other circumstances, the sponsor is in complete shock with the sponsored partner's intention to abandon him/her after obtaining PR in Canada.
With the new immigration proposal, Canada wants to send across the message that the nation is not going to take immigration fraud for consideration anymore. With this, the CIC hopes to strengthen the integrity of the country's immigration system further.
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