April 16, 2020
The New Price of Canadian Permanent Residence Status
According to Immigration, Refugees, Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the immigration application fees associated with seeking Permanent Residence (PR) status in Canada have not been increased since 2002. The current fees as they stand reportedly only cover 35% of the total costs and services utilized to administer PR programs. It is with this in mind that IRCC has recently announced a two-phase plan to gradually increase immigration application fees for the foreseeable future.
The first phase, commencing in 2020-2021 will consist of the following application fee increases:
- Increase the Right of Permanent Residence fee (RPRF) from $490 to $500 (exemptions to the RPRF will continue remain for dependent children of applicants, protected persons, some H&C applicants, refugees, sponsorships under certain adoptions, and orphaned dependents).
- Application fees for economic classes will increase 50% for principal applicants and their accompanying family members in all Economic Class programs as follows:
- Fees for principal applicants of the Economic business programs (including self-employed, start-up visa, Quebec investor, Quebec entrepreneur, and Quebec self-employed) will increase from $1,050 to $1,575;
- Economic non-business class (Federal High Skilled programs under Express Entry; Provincial nominees; Atlantic Immigration pilot program, Rural and Northern Immigration pilot program, the Agri-Food Immigration pilot program, and Quebec’s skilled worker program) fees will increase from $550 to $825;
- Note: this increase will not apply to fees for principal applicants and their families in the Caregivers programs, which will remain unchanged.
- Note: this increase will not apply to fees for principal applicants and their families in the Caregivers programs, which will remain unchanged.
- Fees for spouses or common-law partners of economic classes will increase from $550 to $825; and
- Fees for dependent children of economic classes will increase from $150 to $225.
- Fees for principal applicants of the Economic business programs (including self-employed, start-up visa, Quebec investor, Quebec entrepreneur, and Quebec self-employed) will increase from $1,050 to $1,575;
The second phase, commencing in 2022-2023 will consist of the following application fee increases:
Commencing in 2022-2023, and every two years thereafter, selected permanent resident processing fees will be increased every two years by the applicable Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase, rounded to the nearest $5.
Economic Classes:
- Fees for economic business classes (including self-employed, start-up visa, Quebec investor, Quebec entrepreneur, and Quebec self-employed) principal applicants will increase to $1,640 in 2022-2023 and to $1,705 in 2024-2025 and so on;
- Fees for economic non-business classes (including federal skilled workers, federal skilled trades, provincial nominee, Canadian experience class, the Ministerial Instruction economic immigration classes [currently, Atlantic Immigration class, Rural and Northern Immigration class, Agri-Food Immigration class], and Quebec skilled workers) principal applicants will increase to $860 in 2022-2023, to $895 in 2024-2025 and so on;
- Fees for spouses or common-law partners of all Economic classes will increase to $860 in 2022-2023, to $895 in 2024-2025 and so on; and
- Fees for dependent children of all Economic classes will be increased to approximately $235 in 2022-2023, to $245 in 2024-2025, and so on.
Non-Economic Classes:
- Fees for noneconomic class (including the family, protected persons, and humanitarian and compassionate class applicants) principal applicants and their spouses, partners and parents and grandparents, will remain at current rate of $550 until 2022-2023, fee will increase biennially to approximately $570 in 2022-2023, and $595 in 2024-2025 and so on.
- Fees for dependent children for noneconomic classes will remain at current $150 rate until 2022-2023 and increase on biennial basis to $155 in 2022-2023 and $160 in 2024-2025.
Starting in 2022-23:
- Fees for members of the permit holder class will be increased to $340 and then increase by the applicable CPI biennially.
- Fees to sponsor member of family class will increase to $80 and then increase by the applicable CPI biennially.
- The RPRF will increase to $520, and increase by applicable CPI biennially.
The new fees proposed in phase one are set to take effect on April 30, 2020 at 9:00 AM (EDT).