Canadian citizens and permanent residents can sponsor their parents and grandparents (PGP) for permanent residence. Sponsoring your mother, father, grandmother or grandfather allows reunify and bring your family to Canada. Learn about requirements, stages and process, timeline, get checklists, and more.
Canadian citizens and permanent residents can sponsor family members in Canada. Canada has a cap on the number of applications it accepts every year under the PGP program.
As per Canada’s immigration levels plan, the 2020 admission target for the PGP is set at 21,000. In 2019, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) accepted 27,000 sponsorship applications. The target was 20,500. In 2018, 17,000 respectively. In 2017 – 10,000 applications. Not only the cap has increased, but also an application process was modified significantly.
While sponsoring parents or grandparents may take two years or longer, we recommend applying for a Super Visa in the meantime to bring your parents to Canada.
Show interest to sponsor. A sponsor can submit The Interest To Sponsor Form online sometime in January each year. We helped our clients to successfully submit online this form in 2019 and get an invitation. Read our blog for tips on how to succeed in the 2020 PGP. When and how to submit a form in 2020 for sponsoring parents and grandparents will be updated on IRCC’s website soon that you can check here.
The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invites potential sponsors to submit a complete application in the same order they receive the interest to sponsor forms online.
Get the correct application package. There are two applications that must be submitted together, not later than 60 days after an invitation to sponsor was received. The two applications are – sponsor’s application to become a sponsor and parents or grandparents application for permanent residence. A checklist and application forms can be found here. However, you should only start completing the forms after invited to apply, as the forms and required documents may be updated by the IRCC.
Pay government fees that will comprise of:
The faster way to pay these fees is to pay online on the IRCC’s website here.
Sponsoring parents to Canada will require to apply an application to be received by the IRCC not later than 60 days from an invitation. The specific deadline will be provided in the invitation.
Sponsored mother, father, or grandmother and grandfather will need to take medical exams, give biometrics, and provide police certificates when requested by the IRCC during the processing of their application.
Sponsors must meet certain requirements to be eligible for PGP sponsoring:
What is the Income Requirement?
A sponsor must have the income required to sponsor PGP and provide proof of income. The sponsor must meet the income requirements for each of the 3 taxation years right before the date of application.
The table below shows the minimum income required to sponsor parents to Canada, based on the number of persons a sponsor will be responsible for.
Federal Income Table For Parents And Grandparents Sponsorship
Number of Minimum income in
of persons 2018 2017 2016
2 persons $40,379 $39,813 $39,372
3 persons $49,641 $48,945 $48,404
4 persons $60,271 $59,426 $58,768
5 persons $68,358 $67,400 $66,654
6 persons $77,095 $76,015 $75,174
7 persons $85,835 $84,631 $83,695
If more than 7 persons, for each additional person, add: $8,740 in 2018, $8,616 in 2017, and $8,521 in 2016.
IRCC process applications to sponsor PGP within 20-24 months. Processing time starts the day IRCC receives a complete application and ends when they make a decision. It may take longer than 24 months if an application is not complete.
Government fees for sponsoring parents or grandparents will include:
If you would like to know more , you may call +1 587-930-7017 or email info@confidentimmigration.ca or message us using the contact form.