Thank you, Mr. Komarnicki.
The process is one that we've previously spoken about, and it was raised at your meeting last week with other witnesses. It's the process by which Canadian citizen parents can sponsor their dependent children to come to Canada as permanent residents under the family class in IRPA.
They have a window of 22 years while the child is a dependant--and that window can be even longer than 22 years--to sponsor them. As I've said earlier, that sponsorship can be done overseas while the family is living outside of Canada. The sponsors do not have to meet any minimum income requirements, and the child would be exempt from the requirements to meet the excessive demand medical test. That's an exception to the rule that applies to dependent children of individuals sponsored by Canadian citizens.
Once they arrive in Canada as a permanent resident, they would also have an expedited path to citizenship. There's an expedited mechanism for citizenship for minor children contained in paragraph 5(2)(a) of the Citizenship Act. It allows them to become a Canadian citizen almost as soon as they arrive in Canada. They have to fill in an application, but they do not have to meet any residency tests.
Again, this was raised last week in your discussion with other members.