The Canadian Press and Immigration Minister John McCallum Leaves

: The Canadian Press reported this week that couriers lined up at a Toronto-area immigration office hours before the program opened for applications on Jan. 4 and, in some cases, they charged clients as much as $400 in order to guarantee their file would be among the first submitted. Immigration Minister John McCallum leaves after addressing reporters in Toronto, according to Huffington Post Canada. Only 5,000 spots are currently available in the first-come, first-served visa program, though the Liberals have promised to raise the cap to 10,000. But McCallum is not committed to making any changes, saying only that the government has a year to review the process before the parent and grandparent program re-opens. Over 14,000 applications were received this year and the Immigration Department is holding on to the excess files pending that increase. The parent and grandparent sponsorship program only accepts applications by mail or courier to the processing centre in Mississauga, Ont., and since it re-opened in 2014 with a cap on applications, it has hit that ceiling within the first few days. "We will have a year to figure out ways in which we might improve that process for the next year." McCallum department had said previously the first-come, first-served approach was an effort to ensure the program fairness and the rates charged by couriers were beyond their control. McCallum suggests the higher cap would come with the release of the government overall plan for immigration in 2016. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.