Sponsor Your Parents and Grandparents for Canada Immigration

On This Page, You Will Find:

• The current status of the Parents and Grandparents Program in 2026
• How the 2025 intake worked and why there is no new interest-to-sponsor form
• Who is eligible to sponsor a parent or grandparent
• The Minimum Necessary Income requirement and the three tax years IRCC checks
• The 20-year sponsorship undertaking (10 years in Quebec)
• Current fees, including the 30 April 2026 fee increase
• Processing times
• The Super Visa as an alternative while the program is paused
• Frequently asked questions

The Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) lets Canadian citizens and permanent residents sponsor a parent or grandparent for permanent residence. Demand for the program consistently outstrips the number of spaces available under Canada’s annual immigration levels plan, so Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) manages it through periodic, capped intakes rather than year-round applications.

As of August 2026, the program is paused. This page explains exactly what that means, what happened with the 2025 intake, and what current and prospective sponsors should do while they wait – including the Super Visa, which remains open throughout the pause.

Is the Parents and Grandparents Program Open in 2026?

No. On 15 July 2026, IRCC announced it is pausing intake of new PGP applications. The department will not accept new interest-to-sponsor forms or invite any additional potential sponsors to apply until further notice.

IRCC says it will keep processing the applications already in the system and plans to approve up to 15,000 people for permanent residence through the PGP in 2026, consistent with the 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan. IRCC frames the pause as a way to reduce the existing backlog and make processing times more predictable, rather than a permanent closure of the program.

New Ministerial Instructions took effect 1 January 2026 to allow IRCC to keep working through existing PGP applications into 2026 while it decided how to manage the next intake. No date has been announced for when a new interest-to-sponsor period or invitation round will open. IRCC has said it will post updates on its website and social media channels when details are available.

What Happened with the 2025 Intake

The most recent intake did not use a new interest-to-sponsor form. Instead, starting 28 July 2025, IRCC invited people who had already submitted an interest-to-sponsor form back in 2020 to apply. IRCC sent 17,860 invitations over about two weeks, with a goal of accepting 10,000 complete applications.

The application window for the 2025 intake closed on 9 October 2025, and IRCC is no longer accepting applications from that round. Anyone who submitted a 2020 interest-to-sponsor form but was not invited in 2025 remains in IRCC’s pool, but there is currently no confirmation of if or when that pool will be drawn from again.

Who Can Sponsor a Parent or Grandparent

Sponsorship under the PGP is only available to people who have been invited to apply. When an intake is eventually announced, a prospective sponsor will generally need to:

• be at least 18 years old
• live in Canada, with a primary residential address in Canada from the time of application until a decision is made
• be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, or a person registered under the Indian Act
• meet the Minimum Necessary Income requirement, on their own or by combining income with a co-signing spouse or common-law partner
• meet all other requirements under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

A sponsor may be found ineligible for reasons that include being incarcerated, owing an immigration loan or court-ordered family support, an undischarged bankruptcy, receiving social assistance for a reason other than disability, a conviction for a violent, sexual, or family-related offence, or being under an active removal order. Sponsors and the people they sponsor can be a biological or adopted parent or grandparent; a sponsored parent’s or grandparent’s current spouse or common-law partner can also be included. For sponsorship of a dependent child instead of a parent or grandparent, see our dependent child sponsorship page, or our adopted child sponsorship page.

Minimum Necessary Income and the Three Tax Years

Sponsors must show they meet the Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) for their family size in each of the three tax years immediately before they apply. Family size includes the sponsor, a co-signing spouse or partner, dependent children, anyone else the sponsor is still undertaking to support, and the principal applicant together with their own spouse and dependent children – whether or not those family members are coming to Canada.

For the 2025 intake, IRCC assessed the 2024, 2023, and 2022 tax years. As a benchmark, a family of four needed to show income of at least $70,972 (2024), $66,466 (2023), and $64,306 (2022); a family of two needed at least $47,549, $44,530, and $43,082 respectively. IRCC publishes an updated MNI table for each new intake, so these figures should be treated as the most recently confirmed benchmark rather than a permanent threshold – check IRCC’s income-requirements page for the current table before a future intake opens. Sponsors prove income with a Canada Revenue Agency notice of assessment for each of the three years, either by consenting to let IRCC retrieve it directly from the CRA or by submitting paper copies with the application. Quebec residents must also meet Quebec’s own income requirements administered by the province.

The 20-Year Sponsorship Undertaking (10 Years in Quebec)

Approved sponsors must sign an undertaking – a legal commitment to provide for the basic needs of the people they sponsor, including food, clothing, shelter, and other essentials, and to repay any social assistance the sponsored person collects during that time. For a parent or grandparent, the undertaking lasts 20 years from the date the sponsored person becomes a permanent resident. In Quebec, where the province administers its own undertaking through the ministry responsible for immigration, the commitment period is 10 years. Quebec residents whose sponsorship application is approved federally must wait for IRCC’s confirmation before submitting the separate undertaking application to Quebec. See our Quebec immigration overview for how the province’s own sponsorship rules interact with federal approval.

Fees for the Parents and Grandparents Program

IRCC increased most permanent residence fees on 30 April 2026. For family class sponsorship, including the PGP, the principal applicant processing fee rose from $545 to $570, and the Right of Permanent Residence Fee rose from $575 to $600 per person. These fees apply on top of any biometrics and third-party costs (such as medical exams) that a sponsored applicant must also pay. Because fee amounts are adjusted periodically, always confirm the current total on IRCC’s official fee list before submitting payment.

Processing Times

IRCC does not publish a single fixed processing time for the PGP; actual wait times depend on when an application was received, whether it is complete, and how many applications are ahead of it in the queue – a queue that, for this program, is affected by the current pause on new intakes. Applicants and sponsors with a file already in processing should use IRCC’s official processing-times tool for the most current estimate for their specific application, rather than relying on figures quoted elsewhere, since these change from one reporting period to the next.

The Super Visa: An Alternative While the Program Is Paused

While the PGP intake is closed, the Super Visa for parents and grandparents remains open to applications and is IRCC’s recommended alternative for families who want their parents or grandparents in Canada for extended stays without waiting for a PGP invitation.

The Super Visa is a multiple-entry temporary resident visa that lets a parent or grandparent visit for up to 5 years at a time, with multiple entries permitted over a validity of up to 10 years; dependants cannot be included on the same application. To qualify, the Canadian host (the child or grandchild) must meet the Minimum Necessary Income for their family size and provide a signed letter of invitation, and the visiting parent or grandparent needs private health insurance from an approved insurer providing at least $100,000 of emergency coverage for a minimum of one year, plus an immigration medical exam. Effective 31 March 2026, IRCC made the host income test more flexible: hosts can now qualify by meeting the income requirement in either of the two most recent tax years (instead of only the most recent year), or by combining a portion of their own income with income from the visiting parent or grandparent. The application fee starts at $100. Applicants travelling by air may also need a separate electronic travel authorization if they are otherwise visa-exempt.

For a fuller comparison of pathways for reuniting with family in Canada, see our family sponsorship overview and our general immigration to Canada overview.

Frequently Asked Questions