Foreign nationals applying for Canadian immigration must declare and examine all family members, even if they are not accompanying them. Failing to report non-accompanying members may lead to a sponsorship ban under specific regulations. To address this, a temporary pilot project was introduced on May 31, 2019, and extended until September 10, 2023, to facilitate further analysis and potential regulation changes. On October 30, 2023, the Government of Canada extended the pilot program exempting certain family class and the spouse or common-law partners in Canada class permanent residence applicants from paragraph R117(9)(d) or R125(1)(d) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR).
