As of April 30th, 2020, at 9:00 AM (EDT), processing fees of some immigration-related applications will increase coping with inflation. The lock point is when the application is received. If your application is registered prior to this, the old processing fee structure will be applied to your case. Any application received after this time with the old processing fees will be returned to the applicant.
Updated fees
- Principal applicants applying to economic classes of immigration, like Express Entry, will see the fees paid increase from $550 to $825, with the exception of the Caregivers program which will stay at the current rate;
- Fees for spouses or common-law partners of all economic classes of immigration will go up from $550 to $825. The fees for dependent children will also go up from $150 to $225;
- Principal applicants applying for business class (self-employed, start-up visa, Quebec investor, Quebec entrepreneur, and Quebec self-employed) will increase from $1,050 to $1,575;
- The right of permanent resident fee will increase from $490 to $500.
The purpose of these changes is to address the significant imbalance between the cost of providing services to potential newcomers to Canada and the fees paid by them. This imbalance results in Canadian taxpayers heavily subsidizing the process. There will be additional fee increases in 2022 and these updated amounts will be governed by the Consumer Price Index.
Bakouni 