Canada’s Parents and Grandparents Program opens for the submission of Interest to Sponsor forms from noon EST on October 13, 2020.
The three-week window for the submission of the form closes on November 3. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada officials will then select at random candidates to be issued invitations to apply.
Canada will look to issue enough invitations to receive 10,000 complete applications between now and the end of 2020.
Do I Qualify to Sponsor My Parents and Grandparents?
Sponsors must:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Live in Canada
- Be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or be a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act
- Have enough money to support the people you want to sponsor. Canada has lowered income requirements for 2020 to offset the impact of coronavirus. The income required is the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30 percent.
PGP Income Requirements for Last 3 Tax Years
| Total number of people you’ll be responsible for | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
| 2 people | $32,899 | $41,007 | $40,379 |
| 3 people | $40,445 | $50,414 | $49,641 |
| 4 people | $49,106 | $61,209 | $60,271 |
| 5 people | $55,695 | $69,423 | 68,358 |
| 6 people | $62,814 | $78,296 | $77,095 |
| 7 people | $69,935 | $87,172 | $85,835 |
| If more than 7 people, for each additional person, add: | $7,121 | $8,876 | $8,740 |
Parents and Grandparents Program 2020: Process
- Submit the interest to sponsor form
The interest to sponsor form will be available here - Receive an invitation to apply
Immigration officials will randomly select and invite potential sponsors. Canada aims to receive 10,000 applications in 2020. - Receive the application package
Those receiving an ITA will also receive an application package. - Pay your application fees
- Submit your application
The complete application must be received with 60 days of the date of the ITA.
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The opening of the PGP has attracted significant controversy in recent years. IRCC has struggled to find a format considered fair by potential applicants.
In 2019, it opened an online first-come, first-served process of submitting the interest to sponsor form. However, many potential sponsors claimed they could never access the form after the program allocation was filled within eight minutes.
Many argued the process favoured sponsors with better internet connections, better computers and who were more able in using a computer.
In 2018, the government opened a month-long window for submitting the form and received more than 100,000 forms for just 10,000 places.
IRCC plans to approve 49,000 family sponsorship applications by December 31, 2020.
