According to a recent report, on March 23, 2012, Canada introduced National conferences with a purpose redesigning the parents and grandparents immigration scheme of the country.

In this connection, Mr. Jason Kenny, the Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister of Canada was quoted as saying that the government of the nation is committed to help people for family reunification on its soil.

He also said that the consultation feedbacks would be very helpful in streamlining the PGP (Parents and Grandparents Program) for the government. It will benefit Canada visa applicants by providing a faster process of applications with a reduced amount of backlogs.

To reduce the backlogs and application processing times, in November last year, the CIC launched Phase I of the Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification, which include 4 significant stages:

• The nation increased the number of applications for sponsored parents and grandparents, which will allow more than 60% people by 2012;

• Introduction of a multiple entry Parent and Grandparent Super Visa valid for the period up to 10 years;

• Commitment of the nation to consult with people of Canada regarding the redesigning of the parent and grandparent scheme;

• CIC temporarily put a pause on the acceptance of new parents and grandparents sponsorship applications for up to 24 months.

With a purpose to make the Parents and Grandparents scheme more sustainable, Canada has decided to redesign this visa scheme and to find out a better way to manage the number of applicants. The new scheme will be designed in such a way that the candidates can easily comprehend and be aware of the processing times of the applications.

The conferences to streamline the PGP are now made available on the CIC website for people to comment. The said report has also revealed that the Canadian Immigration Minister will organize a multicity individual consultation series with shareholders.

The Immigration Minister further went on to add that the Canadian government has taken certain measures via a series of balanced steps to trim down the backlogs and the extended processing times. He also expressed that he is looking forward to get some ideas from the people of Canada on the improvement of the program. The online consultations for parents and grandparents visa are open till May 25, 2012.