On October 5, 2020, The Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced the opening of Canada’s 2020 Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP).
Last year, over 1,500 parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens were granted PR. While the PGP has proven to be incredibly popular, it was delayed due to the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the PGP aims to fulfil the government’s goal to reunite families by approving 49,000 family sponsorship applications by December 31, 2020.
The Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino is quoted on Canada.ca as saying that “our government strongly believes in the importance of keeping families together—particularly during difficult times. The Parents and Grandparents Program is a dedicated pathway to reuniting more families in Canada. Our government has strengthened the program by increasing the number of people who can apply, making the intake process more fair, and steadily increasing the number of families who will be able to reunite. Now, more than ever, family reunification is an important component of Canada’s immigration system. It plays a key role in attracting, retaining and integrating the best and the brightest from around the world.”
How the 2020 PGP Works
Online submissions for the 2020 PGP will open October 13 at 12 p.m. and run for three weeks until November 3 at 12 p.m.
If you wish to sponsor your parents or grandparents, you must submit an interest to sponsor form through the IRCC website.
To maintain fair and equal opportunities for applicants, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will randomly select from the pool of submissions. If your submission is chosen, IRCC will send you an invitation to submit an application. You will have 60 days to submit your application after acceptance. In the event of delays in providing documentation due to service disruptions caused by COVID-19, IRCC may grant a 90-day extension to your submission.
A maximum of 10,000 applications will be accepted for processing as part of the 2020 PGP intake. In 2021, IRCC will open a new intake of interest to sponsor forms to accept a total of 30,000 new applications.
Paper copies of the form, as well as Braille and large print copies are also available to those who are unable to use the online form. Accommodation services can be found by contacting the IRCC Client Support Centre at 1-888-242-2100 or by email until November 3, 2020.
Given that many sponsors may have been financially impacted by the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, IRCC is introducing a temporary public policy that will reduce the income requirement for the 2020 tax year to the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30%.
