On October 5, 2020, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced the reopening of the 2020 Parents and Grandparents (PGP) Program.

Important Update & New Process:

• When to submit interest to sponsor form? Eligible Canadians and permanent residents who wish to sponsor their parents and grandparents to come to Canada will have an opportunity to submit an interest to sponsor from October 13, 2020 (12 p.m. EDT on) to November 3, 2020 (12 p.m. EST)

• How to submit an interest to sponsor form? Interest to sponsor form must be submitted online at any time over a 3-week period form October 13, 2020 (12 p.m. EDT on) to November 3, 2020 (12 p.m. EST) .

• How will selections be made in 2020? Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will randomly select potential sponsors and send them an invitation to submit an application. Selected applicants will have 60 days to submit their application.

• How many applications will be accepted in the 2020 intake? 10,000 applications will be accepted for processing as part of the 2020 PGP intake.

• Financial eligibility of sponsor? IRCC introduced a temporary public policy that will reduce the 2020 tax year's income requirement to the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30%.

In 2020, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) targets to receive 21,000 applications from Canadian citizens and permanent residents who wish to sponsor parents under the 2020 Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP). It is as per the Immigration Levels Plan.

A positive trend is that the admission target for PGP has increased, as compared to previous years. Treating family reunification as an important immigration priority is an achievement of the Canadian Liberal Government.

However, the application process under PGP has undergone significant change, effective January 2019. Before that date, it was sufficient to meet eligibility requirements and mail sponsorship package to the IRCC as soon as the program opened. Selection criteria were “first come first served basis”, which was predictable and easier to plan.

Starting 2019 and, expecting in 2020 too, being an eligible sponsor is only part of the process. Equally important, if not more, is to submit the Interest to Sponsor Form among 21,000 applicants which IRCC plans to accept in 2020. In the 2019 PGP selection, submission of the above-mentioned form became the main issue. It raised lots of concerns, frustration, complains from sponsors who were eligible but unfortunate to submit it in time during which it was available. Speed was important.

It is worth noting that the new selection process under the PGP Program intended to be fairer. Even though it reminds a lottery in its sense, interested children and grandchildren have an equal chance of being invited to apply now. Our advice is to prepare in advance. We successfully submitted the Interest to Sponsor Form for our client in the 2019 PGP Program, whose parents were invited to apply for permanent residence. Therefore, the purpose of this post is to give you tips on how to prepare and increase your chances to sponsor parents to Canada in 2020.

• #1 - Check if you are an eligible sponsor and meet the PGP Program requirements, i.e., for your age, place of residence, immigration status in Canada, and income in the past/ preceding three years. Read more about the requirements and check whether you meet the income threshold using Federal Income Table for Parents and Grandparents Sponsorship here. Only a spouse or common-law partner can be a co-signor to help you meet the income requirement.

• #2 - Sometime in December of 2019 or January of 2020, IRCC will post all details about the 2020 PGP Program process that you can find here; or leave your e-mail, we will inform you when there is an update. Thus, the Interest to Sponsor form will be available here for a limited time on the specific date in 2020 chosen by the IRCC (in 2019, it was January 28, 2019, at 12 p.m. EST).

• #3 - Plan and ensure you have all the answers and documents in front of you on the date and time when the Interest to Sponsor form will be available for completion and submission. You will not have time to search for information. If the copies of documents are not clear or not legible, you will lose time too. Every second of your time is important. IRCC will post on its website what exact information you will need to insert in the form. Ideally, if you make a table with all the questions and answers, and have it in front of you at the time. Then, you can either copy and paste from your table with answers or retype information, whatever you are doing faster. This preparation will save you time and increase the chances to submit the form while it will still be open.

• #4 - Another essential detail is to have a very good internet connection, eliminating any chance of interruption. Try to find a quiet place where you feel comfortable and can concentrate. Our experience in 2019 showed that set ready around 30 minutes before the form opened was a good strategy. Try to reload the IRCC page around 7 – 5 minutes before the form opening. Definitely, reload the page at the time when the form is supposed to be available. This is what we did in Toronto in 2019 and did not have any technical problems.

• #5 - When you complete filling out all fields in the form, review and submit. While it is important to submit mistakes free Interest to Sponsor form, spending too much time reviewing may not allow you to successfully submit it. Again, try to prepare as much as possible in advance. Have the documents that you will be required to upload (saved) in quick access so that you can quickly upload them.

Right after submission, the page with the following message will pop up - “You have successfully submitted your interest to sponsor form.” It will contain a “confirmation number” too. We recommend saving this for your record. Submission confirmation will look like in the picture below. (It is the one we received in 2019.) 

The same day IRCC will send “Interest to sponsor confirmation” to the e-mail provided in the form. In 2019, we received confirmation e-mail around 40 minutes after submission.  (It is the one in the picture below.)

IRCC invites potential sponsors to submit a complete application in the same order as they received the interest to sponsor forms. Thus, you will receive an “Invitation to submit a complete application to sponsor your parents and grandparents as part of the 2020 Parents and Grandparents Program.” Based on our experience, the form was submitted in January 2019, and IRCC sent the invitation in April 2019, three months later.

Important note: tips and information in this post are based on our experience participating in the 2019 PGP Program. It does not supersede in any manner the instructions posted by IRCC. We shared our experience with the only goal to help you prepare for the 2020 PGP application. It is your sole responsibility to get briefed on updates and program requirements that will be posted by IRCC later this or beginning next year.

We hope our tips will be useful for you and help you reunite with your parents and grandparents soon in Canada. While you are preparing to sponsor your parents in 2020, you can still apply for Super Visa to bring them to Canada, as sponsorship may take around two years.