What to expect from the Parents and Grandparents Program in 2021

Canadians and permanent residents who submitted interest to sponsor forms for the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) in 2020 are currently receiving invitations from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

Earlier this week, IRCC held its PGP 2020 lottery and will be issuing invitations over a 10-day period. Candidates were able to submit their interest to sponsor forms between October 13 and November 3, 2020.

IRCC will look to accept up to 10,000 applications for the 2020 PGP. This is a major year for the PGP. In 2021, Canada will look to issue up to 40,000 invitations. The original plan was to issue this many invitations across 2020 and 2021. However, due to coronavirus-related delays, all the invitations will occur this year.

More people register their interest to sponsor their parents or grandparents than IRCC is able to accept. This is why Canada needs to hold a lottery in order to randomly select candidates to invite to apply. Before this is done, however, IRCC removes all duplicate submissions to ensure equal opportunity in the lottery.

Have you received an invitation to sponsor for the 2020 PGP? Email Campbell Cohen to receive assistance.

Those who receive invitations to apply will be given a total of 60 days to submit their applications. If a candidate is unable to submit a document due to coronavirus-related disruptions, they must submit evidence of this. They will then be given an additional 90-day period to submit the missing documents.

Applicants who have submitted an interest to sponsor form are encouraged to check their e-mails and their junk folders. IRCC maintain that they will only contact those who are invited to apply. Applicants can also check the status of their invitation on the IRCC website.

In October, Canada announced that they will temporarily ease the income requirements for family class immigration, such as for the PGP. This is due to the fact that many of the potential sponsors were likely financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. IRCC now requires that sponsors’ income meets the Minimum Necessary Income (MNI). Prior to the change, IRCC required that sponsors income be at least the MNI plus 30 per cent.

Get legal assistance for Canada's Parents and Grandparents Immigration Program

Parents and grandparents program 2020 minimum necessary income requirement

In order to figure out how much you need to be making to be able to sponsor your parents or grandparents, you will first need to determine the size of your family. This includes everyone who you will be financially responsible for, including:

yourself;
your spouse or common-law partner;
your dependent children;
your spouse’s or partner’s dependent children;
anyone you may have sponsored in the past for whom you are financially responsible;
the parents and grandparents that you want to sponsor and their dependents;
any dependent children who won’t come to Canada with their parents or grandparents;
the parent or grandparent’s spouse or partner, even if they won’t come to Canada;
their parent or grandparents’ separated spouse.

Canada requires that you meet the minimum income requirement for at least the last three taxation years. This requirement is true for those who wish to sponsor their parents and grandparents to come to any province outside Quebec. Those who live in Quebec will require to meet the province’s requirements.

The current minimum required income tables are for those who registered their interest in 2020, and will be applying in 2021 if they received an invitation.

For both Canada and Quebec, the sponsor must sign an undertaking agreement. This means that the sponsor and any co-signers must pay back any social assistance the sponsored individuals claim. For sponsors in any province other than Quebec, the undertaking period is 20 years. For those in Quebec, the period is 10 years.

Get legal assistance for Canada's Parents and Grandparents Immigration Program