Canadian citizens and permanent residents will soon be able to apply to sponsor their parents and grandparents to immigrate to Canada.
Canada’s immigration department says that it will accept interest to sponsor forms for the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) between 12:00 p.m. EDT on October 13 and 12:00 p.m. EDT on November 3. These are not applications for the PGP itself, but rather, are an opportunity for people to express their interest in sponsoring their family members for Canadian immigration.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will then randomly select potential sponsors and send them an invitation to submit an application. Selected applicants will have up to 60 days to submit their completed sponsorship application.
IRCC will accept a maximum of 10,000 applications in 2020. It will open a new intake of interest to sponsor process in 2021 to accept a total of 30,000 new applications.
IRCC is also introducing a temporary public policy that will reduce the income requirement for the 2020 tax year to the minimum necessary income, rather than the minimum necessary income plus 30 per cent. This is to accommodate those who have been negatively affected financially by the coronavirus pandemic.
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.
Individuals with disabilities can also submit a paper copy, Braille, and large print interest to sponsor form to IRCC upon request. They can contact IRCC at 1-888-242-2100 or email the following address until November 3rd: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
A random selection process will then be used to ensure the process is fair and all interested sponsors have an equal opportunity to submit an interest to sponsor form and a chance of being invited to apply.
Step 2: Invitations to apply will be sent to potential sponsors
IRCC will review all submissions, remove duplicate entries, and randomize the forms.
It will have one round of invitations to apply in 2020, with a maximum of 10,000 applications accepted for processing.
Invitations issued by IRCC are non-transferable.
Canada easing income requirements for family-class immigration
Canada is easing income requirements on family-class immigration applicants to allow people to sponsor their loved ones, even if they lost income due to coronavirus.
The new temporary public policy means that Canadians who are sponsoring their foreign national family members do not have to make 30 percent more than the minimum income requirement for their region in 2020. Sponsors will also be able to count regular Employment Insurance benefits in their income calculations for this year, as opposed to just special EI benefits.
These changes do not apply to Quebec sponsors, as the province has its own family sponsorship program.
Sponsors must still meet the minimum necessary income, and all other application requirements pertaining to other relevant taxation years. This means that in every other relevant year, they need to meet the additional 30 per cent income requirement, and they can only have special Employment Insurance benefits contribute to that total.
The new measures apply to Canadians applying through the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP), which will open to expressions of interest on October 13. They also apply to the following types of family members:
• spouses and common-law partners;
• dependent children;
• minor siblings, nieces and nephews, and grand children whose parents are deceased; and
• relatives of the sponsor, regardless of age, if the sponsor does not have any close family relatives who are Canadian.
The new policy came into effect on October 2nd, and will end when all eligible applications are processed.
The new ministerial instructions signed by the minister of immigration, Marco Mendicino, state that the reason for the exemption is due to the financial challenges that Canadians have faced during the coronavirus pandemic. Many businesses had to close, or reduce staff and as such many people claimed unemployment benefits or lost income.
“As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the income requirement for tax year 2020 will be more difficult for some sponsors to meet,” read Mendicino’s instructions, “This could result in otherwise eligible permanent residence applicants having their application refused, including both current and future applicants in the family class whose sponsor must meet a minimum income requirement.”
The new policy is meant to ensure that sponsors are not unfairly impacted by the effects of the pandemic in their sponsorship applications for this year, or any future year where income levels for 2020 would affect eligibility.
