2020 Parents and Grandparents Program to Open

The situation

The 2020 Parents and Grandparents (PGP) Program will open on October 13, 2020 to allow Canadian nationals and permanent residents to submit the interest to sponsor their parents and grandparents for permanent residence in Canada.

A closer look

Details of the updated PGP program include:

• Sponsorship process. The process for sponsorship under the PGP is as follows:
  • Canadian nationals and permanent residents will be able to submit an interest to sponsor form online to Immigration, Refugees Citizenship Canada (IRCC) beginning October 13, 2020 at 12:00 EDT until November 3, 2020 at 12:00 EDT.
  • After this window has closed, IRCC will invite potential sponsors to complete an application in the order that their submissions were received until the yearly cap of 10,000 applications has been reached.
  • Selected sponsors will have 60 calendar days form the date of their invitation to submit a complete application to the IRCC.
• Reduction of income requirements. The IRCC has introduced a temporary public policy which reduces the minimum necessary income requirements for sponsors for the 2020 tax year. Previously, the income requirement was set at the minimum necessary income plus 30%. The government decreased the income requirement due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sponsors.

 

Impact

Potential sponsors should confirm that they meet the required minimum income requirements and submit an interest to sponsor form as soon as possible after the form becomes available on October 13, 2020. This will increase the chances of obtaining an invitation to apply within the application cap.

Background

• COVID-19 impact on program. The 2020 PGP program was delayed until later in the year to allow the government to focus on their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 2019 PGP. In 2019, the IRCC accepted 20,000 PGP applications, which is twice the number they will accept this year. The decrease in accepted applications this year may be attributed to the IRCC’s limited processing capacities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Looking ahead

The Minister of IRCC announced actions that will speed up spousal application processing over the next few months, for example, by increasing the number of decision makers on spousal applications by 66%. As a result, the IRCC will be able to adjudicate 6,000 spousal applications each month through December 2020, which will include some PGP program applications.

Additionally, the IRCC will increase the number of accepted applications in the PGP Program in 2021 to 30,000.

These initiatives will increase the number of foreign nationals able to immigrate under the PGP Program. Fragomen will continue to report on relevant program developments.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].