Martin announced during a campaign stop in B.C. Tuesday that he will roll back the $975 fee if he is re-elected in the Jan. 23 election.
"For many Canadian families with immediate relatives overseas, one of the challenges that they have faced is the $975 right of permanent residence fee," he said.
In 2000, refugee claimants were exempted as well.
The government had claimed the fee was imposed to cover costs associated with processing applications. Yet opponents criticized the fee, saying it was a money grab.
Martin made the announcement in an area where large blocs of Asian-Canadian voters could make the difference in several key ridings in the Jan. 23 election.
The landing fee will be phased out over the next three years. The fee will drop immediately to $600, then to $300 after 12 months, and finally to zero within the next two budgets.
The fee was introduced by the Liberal government in 1995 and applied to adult immigrants. But children and orphaned relatives applying for immigration were exempt from paying the fee.
