On July 20, 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced updates to the Parents and Grand Parents Program (PGP) for Permanent Residence.

IRCC aims to receive up to 40,000 complete applications in 2021—10,000 from the 2020 intake process and 30,000 from 2021.

“The importance of family has never been clearer than during the pandemic. That is why we are delivering on our commitment to help more families reunite in Canada. By strengthening the Parents and Grandparents Program, inviting a record number of sponsors to apply, and by adjusting our requirements to adapt to the current times, we are once again proving our commitment to helping Canadian families stay together, and thrive together.”

– The Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

IRCC has announced that it will follow the same lottery system, which was followed previously.

The first step to sponsor your parents or grandparents is filling out the interest to sponsor form. The form was available:

• from noon EDT on October 13, 2020
• to noon EST on November 3, 2020

In order to confirm whether they’ve been selected, potential sponsors should check the email account they used to submit their 2020 interest to sponsor form. They will also be able to check their status online using their 2020 confirmation number.

Invitations will be sent over the course of 2 weeks, starting the week of September 20, 2021. Those who are invited to apply will have 60 days to submit the application.

If you have misplaced confirmation numbers can be retrieved using the Lost My Confirmation Number tool, which will be available online once all the invitations have been sent.

Selected potential sponsors will have their income assessed for tax years 2020, 2019 and 2018. This is the same as those who applied as part of the 2020 intake. An important piece of information in the new update for the PGP program is for the tax year 2020, the income requirement will continue to be the minimum necessary income, instead of the normal minimum necessary income +30% to be considered. Sponsors can also use regular Employment Insurance benefits and temporary COVID-19 benefits, such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, to be included towards the sponsor’s income. IRCC wants to ensure that sponsors are not penalized for losing income during the pandemic and can still sponsor parents and grandparents for permanent residence to Canada.

Eligibility to Sponsor Parents or Grand Parents

Family members who want to sponsor a parent must fulfill the following criteria:

• You must be at least 18 years old
• You live in Canada
• You must be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act
• You should also have enough money in order to support your parents or grandparents, the minimum income needed is a key factor in determining the eligibility
• You will also have to sign an undertaking to providing financial support for your sponsored family members for 20 years, starting when they become permanent residents, repaying any provincial social assistance (money from the government) your sponsored family members get during that time

If you live in Quebec

You must meet Quebec’s immigration sponsorship requirements after you are approved as a sponsor. The Quebec ministry in charge of immigration will assess your income. The minimum income requirement is calculated for 12 months instead of 3 years in other provinces. The length of the undertaking is 10 years in Quebec.

An important factor to note in the PGP program is that the sponsor is still responsible for the undertaking, for the length of the period either 20 years or 10 years (in Quebec). If you lose your job move to provinces or other factors, you still are responsible.

Need a hand with your application, contact us today.  Turningstone Immigration Consulting is a full-service Immigration consultancy. Our services are provided by a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC).

We deal in all types of immigration-related applications, like Permanent Residence (PR), Study Permits, Work Permits, PGWP, Visit Visa (Temporary Resident Visas), Super Visa, Family Sponsorships for PR Applications, Refusals and much more. Contact Us Today.