A new and improved intake process for the sponsorship of Canadian-bound parents and grandparents is to launch later this month.
Last week, Canada’s Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen announced that the new Parents and Grandparents (PGP) Program interest to sponsor form will be available to potential sponsors from 28th January.
“Family reunification is an immigration priority for the Government of Canada,” he said. “It supports Canada’s economic prosperity and it further strengthens our communities. Parents and grandparents often help care for children, increasing their parents’ ability to work and study, and to make meaningful contributions to their communities. In reuniting Canadian citizens and permanent residents with their parents and grandparents, not only do we help these families to succeed – doing so also benefits our entire country”.
The launch of the 2019 PGP Program will include a new and improved intake process.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will accept interest to sponsor submissions for a limited time and then invite potential sponsors to submit a complete application, in the order their submissions were received, until the 2019 cap of 20,000 complete applications is reached.
Interested potential sponsors are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the new intake process for 2019, as other improvements have been made. These include a requirement for potential sponsors to upload a copy of a status in Canada document when submitting their interest to sponsor form.
The interest to sponsor form has also been enhanced from previous years to include features that will help IRCC detect duplicate submissions and potential fraud.
Potential sponsors should submit an interest to sponsor form as soon as possible once it’s available online, after confirming that they meet the necessary minimum income requirements. The onus is on potential sponsors to ensure they are eligible before submitting an interest to sponsor form.
As a family reunification program, the PGP Program gives Canadians and permanent residents the opportunity to have their parents and grandparents come to Canada to live permanently. Given the continuing interest in the program, IRCC has increased the annual cap on applications it will accept in 2019 to 20,000 – 4 times the number of applications accepted in 2015. This increase was made possible by an over 80 per cent reduction of the application backlog and processing times that have been shortened from seven to eight years, to about two years.
The application inventory has dropped from a peak of 167,000 people in 2011, to just over 28,000 people in October 2018.
Article published 14th January 2018