Today, Thursday, May 23, 2024, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), introduced legislation that would extend citizenship by descent beyond the first generation.

Bill C-71, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2024), would automatically confer Canadian citizenship to persons born abroad to a Canadian parent who is also born abroad prior to the coming into force of this legislation. It would also extend access to a direct grant of citizenship to children born abroad and adopted by a Canadian parent beyond the first generation. Following the coming into force of the legislation, parents born abroad who have or adopt children also born outside Canada will need to have spent at least 1,095 cumulative days of physical presence in Canada prior to the birth or adoption of their child to pass on citizenship.

Bill C-71, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2024), would also restore citizenship to “Lost Canadians”—individuals who lost or never acquired citizenship as a result of outdated provisions of previous citizenship legislation. Bill C-71 would also provide citizenship to the descendants of “Lost Canadians” and to anyone born abroad to a Canadian parent in the second or subsequent generations, before the legislation comes into force.

If you may be impacted by the changes proposed in Bill C-71, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2024), please be advised that, if the bill passes in Parliament and receives Royal Assent, IRCC will work as quickly as possible to implement these changes and will provide more information for eligible individuals, which Abrams & Krochak will publish on our website.

Starting today, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will randomly invite potential sponsors who submitted an interest to sponsor form in 2020 to apply for the 2024 intake.

IRCC intends to send 35,700 invitations over the course of approximately 2 weeks. Their stated goal is to accept up to 20,500 complete applications.

If one receives an Invitation to Apply, the complete application must be submitted to IRCC by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Friday, August 2, 2024 and there will be no exceptions.

If you are an existing client of Abrams & Krochak who submitted an interest to sponsor form in 2020 and have not received an Invitation to Apply, to date, please do not contact our office to request an update. Should we receive communication from IRCC that you received an Invitation to Apply for the 2024 intake, we will notify you immediately by e-mail. If your e-mail address and/or contact information has/have changed since 2020, please contact our office by e-mail to notify us of the change(s).

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) has updated the table that shows how much money you need to settle in Canada if you are applying in either the Federal Skilled Worker or Federal Skilled Trades Programs.  IRCC updates these numbers every year, based on 50% of the low income cut-off totals.  The changes take effect on May 28, 2024.  If you already have an Express Entry Online Profile, you may need to update your settlement fund numbers in your profile to remain eligible to apply.  The update must be done no later than May 27, 2024.

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, if an individual wishes to apply for Permanent Residence in Canada under Express Entry, the following settlement fund requirements will apply:

On April 30, 2024, fees for all permanent residence applications are increasing as part of a routine update. According to the Government of Canada, these fees increase every 2 years to enable the government to manage growing program and service delivery costs and to keep up with inflation.