Filipiniana News – January 2020 by Maria Deanna P. Santos For the start of 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) released the following updates on a couple of its immigration programs which had been much awaited by many and which could potentially have a significant impact on the lives of migrants in Canada. IRCC Postpones Reopening of Parent-Grandparent Sponsorship Program Many prospective sponsors of parents and grandparents were very disappointed to learn that IRCC has put on hold the parent-grandparent sponsorship program for 2020 until the new ministerial instructions had been released. No specific date had been provided for their release. In the past years, IRCC had been launching the online interest to sponsor forms at the start of each year to allow prospective sponsors to initiate the sponsorship application process. Due to various issues which arose from the previous attempts to revise the parental sponsorship application proce