On August 20, 2018, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen announced changes to the sponsorship program for parents and grandparents. Hussen stated during press release that we have experienced that lottery system was widely criticized since several candidates considered it unfair on their part. After getting feedback from several people, this morning- "lottery system" has been replaced with "First come-first served basis".
With the wake of 2019, potential sponsors will express their intentions to sponsor a parent or grandparent by filling out an 'interest to sponsor' form online. Instead of randomly selecting people from this list for sponsorship, as is the current policy, applications will instead be invited based on the order in which the 'interest to sponsor' forms are received until the 20,000 cap is reached.
Hussen said: "This is a fairer first-in system that will benefit all those who are interested,"
Government will also accept more parent and grandparent sponsorship applications in 2019. The current cap of 17,000 applications will be increased to 20,000 next year.
