移民局修改“随行子女”定义

移民局对移民申请中“子女”的定义做了重大调整，从2017年10月24日起，移民申请里随行子女年龄从19岁以下调整到22岁以下。

1 Subparagraphs (b)(i) and (ii) of the definition dependent child in section 2 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations are replaced by the following:

(i) is less than 22 years of age and is not a spouse or common-law partner, or

(ii) is 22 years of age or older and has depended substantially on the financial support of the parent since before attaining the age of 22 years and is unable to be financially self supporting due to a physical or mental condition.

也就是说，一个主申请人现在可以将22岁以下的子女包括在申请里面，如果该子女既没有结婚，也没有同居伴侣。

对于22岁以上的子女，移民局给出了一个例外，如果该子女在22岁以前就因为身体或者心理的原因，在经济上只能依赖父母的支持。

提高随行子女的年龄将使更多的申请人受益，按照之前的规定，年龄介于19-22岁之间的申请人子女，不能包括在父母的移民申请里，只能自己单独申请移民。对于很多中年的申请人，把年轻的子女排除在申请以外，会对他们的移民决定带来顾虑。

本次修改从10月24日生效，在此之前递交的申请，子女的年龄定义仍然以旧的规定为准。

For applicants who submit a permanent resident application on or after October 24, 2017, the new definition of dependent child will apply. For applicants who submitted a permanent residence application on or after August 1, 2014, and before October 24, 2017, the current definition of dependent child will continue to apply.