Canadian family class immigration: 2024 year in review

Canadian immigration authorities have made several changes to family class sponsorship and work permit programs over the last 12 months.

In addition to adding several pathways for family members of Canadians in conflict areas, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) made significant changes to Spousal Open Work Permit (SOWP) eligibility.

This article will cover the most important changes to family class immigration pathways in 2024, and their continued impact on these pathways in 2025, including the following:

• The lowering of the allocation for family sponsorship landings in 2025;
• Changes to spousal open work permit eligibility;
• Changes to Quebec family sponsorship;
• The implementation of advanced automation for processing applications;
• The re-opening of the Parents and Grandparents program;
• The introduction of a temporary resident pathway for families of Canadians in Gaza; and
• The introduction of a family sponsorship pathway for Sudanese family members of Canadians.

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Cutback of family class sponsorship allocations in 2025

As part of a reduction in overall immigration levels, IRCC has cut landings allocations (as detailed in the Immigration Levels Plan) for family class sponsorship immigration in 2025. This change applies to sponsorship of

• Spouses;
• Common-law and conjugal partners;
• Dependent children; and
• Parents and Grandparents.

The following table breaks down the differences in family class allocations between 2024 and 2025 targets:

Note that these figures detail landings and not applications accepted. A landing is the final step of the Canadian immigration process, wherein a foreign national arrives in Canada (if not already in the country) and signs their Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR), formally accepting their new permanent resident status.

Due to processing times, many landings within a year may occur from applications submitted in the previous year.

Depending on the demand for family class sponsorship, the reduction in landing targets may lead to delays in the processing these kinds of applications.

Spouses and partners of Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are being sponsored do have options to remain in Canada temporarily while their applications for permanent residence are being processed.

Changes to Spousal Open Work Permit (SOWP) eligibility

2024 saw major changes to the eligibility criteria for Spousal Open Work Permits (SOWPs) for certain groups.

Effective from March 19, 2024, spouses and common-law partners of international students will only be eligible for a SOWP if their sponsor is enrolled in a master’s or doctoral degree program. Exceptions were made for spouses of students in certain professional degree programs such as medicine, law, and engineering.

More changes in September 2024 were announced, further limiting SOWP eligibility to spouses of master’s students whose program is at least 16 months long. The immigration department expects this change to result in 50,000 fewer permits issued over the next three years.

In the same September announcement, IRCC also clarified new changes to SOWP eligibility for the spouses of temporary foreign workers in Canada. The immigration department confirmed that they would plan to reduce SOWP eligibility to the spouses of temporary foreign workers working in highly skilled and specialized professions. These professions would include C-suite executives, scientists, engineers, lawyers, professors, and technicians, or spouses of workers in sectors where there are key labour shortages. IRCC expects this change to result in 100,000 fewer SOWPs issued over the next three years.

Changes announced in September have not yet been implemented at the time of writing.

Changes to Quebec family sponsorship

Quebec has introduced significant changes to its family reunification pathways in 2024, as provincial and federal governments found themselves at odds initially addressing the growing demand for family sponsorship applications.

Quebec’s family reunification process drew renewed attention early in 2024 for extended wait times. In response, Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller took action to address these delays, directing his department to process up to 20,500 family reunification applications from individuals who had already received a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ).

This was despite the provincial government’s annual cap of approximately 10,000 applications. This intervention was deemed necessary to meet federal service standards and reduce the lengthy processing times that were reported to be up to 26 months, significantly exceeding federal timelines.

As part of a slew of cutbacks, Quebec’s Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration instead imposed a new family sponsorship cap, effective from June 2024 until June 25, 2026.

Under this new policy, the Quebec immigration department has set a limit of 13,000 family sponsorship applications over the next two years. Of this total, 10,400 applications will be allocated to spouses, common-law partners, and dependent children aged 18 and older, while 2,600 will be designated for parents, grandparents, and other eligible family members. The cap does not apply to dependent minor children or certain other family situations, ensuring that those in critical need of sponsorship are not impacted.

Once this cap has been reached, any additional applications will be returned without processing.

Introduction of advanced automation for family class sponsorship

IRCC announced the introduction of advanced automation tools to improve the efficiency of processing spousal and partner sponsorship applications.

The new tools apply machine learning to streamline the approval process for routine cases and reduce the time spent on manual reviews. While these tools cannot approve or deny applications on their own, they aim to accelerate the initial stages of the application process, helping reduce wait times for applicants.

These new processing features will be implemented in assessing applications for the sponsorship of

• Spouses;
• Common-law partners; and
• Conjugal partners.

Re-opening of the Parents and Grandparents Program

The Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) for 2024 opened on May 21 with IRCC issuing 35,700 invitations to apply (ITAs) for family sponsorship. IRCC aimed to approve 20,500 complete applications for permanent residence through this round of invitations.

Sponsors who had submitted an “Interest to Sponsor” form in 2020 were eligible for these invitations. 2024 marked the fifth year in a row that IRCC only considered interest to sponsor applications from the 2020 PGP intake.

Sponsorship candidates who received an ITA through the 2024 round needed to submit a complete application for sponsorship by August 2, 2024.

Temporary Resident pathway for families of Canadians in Gaza

In response to the ongoing crisis in Gaza, the Canadian government introduced a temporary resident (TR) pathway to provide a “temporary safe haven” for extended family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents in the region.

This pathway targets a range of family members of Canadians, including spouses, common-law partners, children, parents, grandparents, siblings, and their immediate family members, such as spouses and dependent children. Temporary resident visas issued through this program are valid for up to three years or until the foreign national’s passport expires.

IRCC has also outlined support measures for these families, including access to settlement services, health coverage under the Interim Federal Health Program, and the ability to apply for fee-exempt study or open work permits.

This initiative will continue until April 22, 2025, or until the program cap of 5,000 has been reached. Special attention is also being given to prioritizing permanent residence applications for Palestinians in family-based streams.

New family sponsorship pathway for Sudanese family members of Canadians

IRCC has also unveiled a new family sponsorship pathway for individuals impacted by the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

This temporary measure allows Sudanese family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to apply for temporary and permanent immigration to Canada, until October 27, 2025.

This pathway will allow Sudanese family members of Canadians to apply for

• An open work permit (OWP);
• A study permit;
• A visitor record;
• A temporary resident permit (TRP); and/or
• Permanent residence as a sponsored spouse, partner, or child.

To be eligible, sponsored applicants must have entered Canada before July 15, 2023.

Family members sponsored through this pathway must be

• A spouse or common-law partner;
• A dependent child (of either the sponsor or the person being sponsored); or
• The dependent child of a dependent child.

Sponsor your family for Canadian immigration