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House Bill

Bill C-242

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 22, 2023
Reuniting Families Act
  • The Reuniting Families Act is a new law that allows parents and grandparents to stay in Canada for up to five years if they purchase private health insurance outside of Canada. The law also requires the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to prepare a report on reducing the minimum income requirement for a child or grandchild to sponsor their visiting family member and to consider special circumstances in the application process. If the Minister does not take action within two years, they must provide a statement to the Parliament explaining why.
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  • Yea (336)
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First Session, Forty-fourth Parliament,

70-71 Elizabeth II – 1 Charles III, 2021-2022-2023
STATUTES OF CANADA 2023

CHAPTER 21
An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (temporary resident visas for parents and grandparents)
ASSENTED TO
June 22, 2023

BILL C-242


SUMMARY

This enactment amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow a parent or grandparent who applies for a temporary resident visa as a visitor to purchase private health insurance outside Canada and to stay in Canada for a period of five years.

It also requires the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to prepare and table a report in respect of a reduction to the minimum income requirement that the child or grandchild must meet in order for the visiting parent or grandparent to be able to enter and remain in Canada for an extended period.

Available on the House of Commons website at the following address:
www.ourcommons.ca


70-71 Elizabeth II – 1 Charles III

CHAPTER 21

An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (temporary resident visas for parents and grandparents)
[Assented to 22nd June, 2023]

His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Short Title

Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Reuniting Families Act.

2001, c. 27

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

2 The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is amended by adding the following after sec­tion 15:

Health insurance policy

15.‍1 A health insurance policy purchased from an insurance company outside Canada that is approved by the Minister satisfies any requirement in an instruction given under subsection 15(4) that a foreign national who applies for a temporary resident visa in order to visit their Canadian citizen or permanent resident child or grandchild for an extended period must have private health insurance.

3 Section 29 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (2):

Extended period

(3) In the case of a temporary resident who is authorized to enter and remain in Canada for an extended period in order to visit a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who is their child or grandchild, the period referred to in subsection (2) is five years.

Report to Parliament

Report

4 (1) The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration must prepare a report in respect of a reduction to the minimum income requirement that the child or grandchild of a foreign national must meet in order for the foreign national to be able to enter and remain in Canada for an extended period to visit that child or grandchild, including in respect of any special circumstances to be taken into account in the processing of temporary resident visa applications and a review process for the decisions made in relation to those applications.

Tabling

(2) The Minister must cause the report to be tabled in each House of Parliament no later than one year after this Act receives royal assent or, if either House is not then sitting, on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting.

Publication

(3) The Minister must publish the report on the website of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration within 10 days after the day on which it is tabled in a House of Parliament.

Explanation

5 If, within two years after this Act receives royal assent, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration does not provide for a reduction to the minimum income requirement that the child or grandchild of a foreign national must meet in order for the foreign national to be able to enter and remain in Canada for an extended period to visit that child or grandchild or the circumstances or review process referred to in subsection 4(1), the Minister must table in each House of Parliament a statement of the reasons for not doing so.

Published under authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons