Canadian Immigration: Children Up To 21 Years Fall under the Definition of Dependent Child

Families around the world, who were striving to get Canadian immigration, received refreshing news earlier this year. According to recent amendments, Canada is going to revert to a mechanism, where the candidates applying for Canadian immigration may accompany their children up to 21 years of age.

I myself was quite happy to know that Liberals have stepped back to their previous position. The Minister of Immigration from the Conservative bench, Jason Kenney, has altered the meaning of a dependent child and included children up to 18 years of age in the year 2014.

There was a time when Kenney used to speak these words. “to no individual in particular, “You are not a child anymore. You are an adult. Take responsibility for yourself.” At that instance, he was, definitely talking about teenagers, who were in their early 20s. Most of them were unable to seek Canadian immigration via economic program. These kinds of programs required valid experience as skilled work.

The youngsters who have completed their education landed in Canada and got a skilled job are quite low. However, it is the past and now the Liberals are trying to minimize the effects of Kenney’s policies regarding Canadian immigration.

On the contrary, some unfortunate acts have been observed where some people (children) are now slipping through some of the cracks. The basic issue with this policy is that even though the government declared this optimistic change in May of 2017; however, it will affect only those applications filed on October 24 or after that.

Andy Buck, shifted to Calgary, Alberta from the UK during 2008. He, after taking a job in the city left his sons, 14 and 17 years of age with his former wife in the UK. After a couple of years ‘before the Kenney change’, his eldest son, Alex, joined as a dependent with his father in Canada.

During 2015 after the Kenny change, the younger son, Benjamin, planned to join his father and brother. This was the time when this family came to know that Benjamin no longer falls under the definition of a dependent.

He was 19 years old at that time and now he is 21. He is going to see his 22 birthday in July this year. However, after the declaration that 21 year-olds will be considered as a dependent, it is of no use for this family.

With reference to latest news reports, Buck tried his luck by applying for Benjamin by opting for the permanent residence on a compassionate basis. Nevertheless, his application experienced a denial for the second time. The family is thinking of filing an appeal to Ahmed Hussain, the Federal Immigration Minister.

There are certain circumstances where a candidate can file an application for Canadian immigration from overseas on compassionate and humanitarian grounds. However, the true situations of Buck’s case are not accessible to the public. These matters need due attention of the concerned authorities since there are numerous other families like the Buck’s, which have seen refusal twice. It is necessary that Canadian immigration system must try to avoid such happenings in the future.