Canada opens new PR pathway for overseas family members of air disasters

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has created a new permanent residency program for families of the Canadian victims of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.

The new permanent residency pathway applies to those who wish to come to Canada to settle and support members of their family who lost their spouse, common-law partner or parent, according to a government media release.

To ensure that extended family members have close ties to the surviving family member, the family member who is in Canada will need to provide a statutory declaration. There is a limit of two extended family members per family unit.

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The victim of the air disasters must have been a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or foreign national who had been approved for permanent residence. In the Ethiopia Airlines crash, 22 victims were Canadian, and the Ukraine International Airlines aircraft had 85 victims who were Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

This new measure follows IRCC's May 2021 policy, which offered a pathway to permanent residence for family members of these air disaster victims who were already in Canada. That policy ended on May 11, 2022. Eligible immediate and extended family members can now apply even if they are outside Canada.

The public policy for families outside Canada is in effect from August 3, 2022, until August 2, 2023.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible to apply, you must be outside Canada. You and your family members must also not be inadmissible to Canada.

You must be related to either a Canadian victim or their spouse or common-law partner who passed away on flights Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 or Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. You must provide a complete and signed statutory declaration (IMM 0171) from a surviving family member in Canada. Family members can only sign a statutory declaration for a maximum of two principal applicants.

You can also be related to a person who got permanent residence under the Temporary public policy to facilitate permanent residence for in-Canada families of Canadian victims of recent air disasters, if you were either declared as a non-accompanying family member on their application, or are a child of theirs and were born after your parent became a permanent resident.

Eligible relatives of the victim include the following:

spouse or common-law partner
child (of any age)
parent
grandparent
grandchild
sibling (including half siblings)
aunt or uncle (their mother or father’s sibling)
nephew or niece (the child of their sibling)

Eligible relatives of a victims’ spouse or common-law partner include:

child
parent
grandparent
grandchild
sibling (including half-siblings)
aunt or uncle (the sibling of a victim’s parent)
nephew or niece (the child of a victim’s sibling)

You can include members of your family in your application if they meet all the admissibility requirements to become Canadian permanent residents.

Even if your family members do not plan to come to Canada, you must declare them on your application. Otherwise, you will not be able to sponsor them later.

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