Family sponsorship: what to expect in 2022?

Each year, Canada receives hundreds of thousands of applications from people who want to bring their relatives to the country.

In 2021, Canada did not have a full lottery for the family sponsorship program, which allows citizens and residents to move their parents and grandparents into the country. This year, only those who applied back in 2020 could participate in the lottery.

Immigration and Citizenship Canada has not yet made any announcements about how the draw will play out in 2022. But according to the immigration plan for 2021-2023, the country intends to welcome about 23,500 parents and grandparents under the sponsorship.

Before the pandemic, the Ministry used to publish a sub-circuit of the lottery in January, but lately it has been only in autumn, so it is not yet known when to expect the announcement of the launch. The format of the raffle is also unknown. In recent years, Canada has followed a lottery strategy whereby sponsors are randomly selected from a pool of entries and given the opportunity to fund the relocation of their relatives.

But before the pandemic, the Department of Immigration was exploring other options, as interest in the family sponsorship program is much higher than the number of applicants selected. For example, in the last lottery, which took place in the fall of 2021, there were about 200,000 applications, and only 30,000 of them were chosen.