take a look at this case
A skilled worker has applied for a work visa in Canada. She has two children, one is 21 years old and the other is 22 years old. She wants to list them on the application as her dependent children. Technically, children under the age of 22 are considered dependents. However, since the application takes over a year to process, her children will be over 22 by the time the application is approved. At that time, your children must have finished their studies and are defined as independent. The question is, will the children be eligible to immigrate as dependents?
The answer
The answer is yes, but your processes still depend on the definition of “dependent”. Before defining that, it is important to review the case based on the following context.
Many overseas workers apply for employment in Canada as skilled workers. A skilled worker has years of experience and education in a particular field, thus creating skills specific only to the field. These types of immigrants are favored in Canada and other Western countries. Applicants in the skilled worker category may include their spouse and dependent children on their applications. When approved, the spouse and children can also immigrate to Canada.
For skilled worker applications, dependent children are legally defined as those who are 22 years of age or younger. However, there is an exception to this definition. Children over the age of 22 are still considered dependent if they are substantially dependent on their parents’ remittances even before they reach that age. Likewise, those who are taking continuation courses until they reach that age are considered dependents.
On the other hand, an important factor to consider regarding this definition does not lie in the legal regulations but in the status of the application. Sometimes dependent information is “locked” or “frozen.” In other words, the age and economic dependency of a child can be calculated or taken into consideration in three different situations: as of the date of the application, as of some other dates, or as of the tender of the immigration officer, according to the case.
Age Block Date
Under this condition, Canadian immigration officials (Citizen and Immigration Canada or CIC) have internal policies regarding the age of children. They identify the lockout date on the date of the skilled worker’s request. The blackout date is defined by the following adaptations of the CIC policy manual:
The blackout date serves as a reference point to freeze certain factors until such time as requests are processed. Such definition is not under any law or regulation. However, it does not go against any of those laws that an applicant must follow.
For refugees or those belonging to the economy class, the age lock occurs when a visa officer has accepted the submission of an application. This policy does not conflict with case law, which normally prevails over CIC’s policies in the event of conflicts.
In this case, the youngest child in the example qualifies as an eligible dependent. In addition, he still qualifies as a dependent even after a year and a half because he is under 22 at the time of the age lock.
Blocking date for financial dependency
In contrast, the lock date for financial dependency is the date a decision is made on the application. This means that the eldest child is not considered a dependent on the day an immigration officer decides on an application. After a year and a half, he no longer considered himself financially dependent. This is in accordance with the old Canadian immigration policy.
This policy is already modified. In 2005, the Hamid (a federal court in Canada) declared that, in the absence of a contrary legal requirement, the cutoff date for financial dependency of a skilled worker’s children is the date of application. This rule is still followed today.
The Hamid tribunal logically reasons that the definition of age lock must also be the same as the definition of financial dependency lock. Furthermore, there are insufficient reasons to hold applicants responsible for the delay in the application process. Since this is out of their control, it is now favored to give them more opportunities for their dependent children to migrate with them.