The Parents and Grandparents Program 2020 closes next week

Canadian citizens and permanent residents have until next Tuesday to notify Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada about their desire to sponsor their parents and grandparents.

The Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) expression of interest window opened on October 13 and closes on November 3 at 12 PM EST.

Through the PGP, parents and grandparents can obtain Canadian permanent residence and then citizenship.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will then hold a lottery inviting up to 10,000 sponsors to submit their PGP applications.

Are you eligible for PGP 2020? Complete CanadaVisa's free eligibility tool!

How you can apply by November 3rd

Step one: Submit an online sponsorship interest form. You will be considered among the pool of candidates when IRCC holds its lottery.

Step two: Wait for the lottery results. IRCC will contact you if you are among the 10,000 sponsors that have been drawn.

Step three: Submit your PGP application to IRCC and pay your application fees by the deadline stipulated by IRCC.

If you are in Quebec, you follow the steps above but in addition, you need to get a Quebec Selection Certificate from the Quebec government in step three and then submit it to IRCC.

Are you eligible for PGP 2020? Complete CanadaVisa's free eligibility tool!

What you need for step one

To submit your interest to sponsor form to IRCC in step one, you need to have either a digital copy of your Canadian passport or your proof of status in Canada such as your Permanent Residence (PR) Card.

You will need to submit information about your family including the number of people you wish to sponsor. You will receive a confirmation number after successfully submitting your interest form.

Read our PGP 2020 FAQs

Income is the most important eligibility requirement

Assuming you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident currently living in Canada, the main criteria you will need to meet is income.

You need to show you meet IRCC's minimum necessary income over the 2018, 2019, and 2020 tax years to show you can financially support your family members.

Are you eligible for PGP 2020? Complete CanadaVisa's free eligibility tool!

You do not need to show your proof of income during step one.

In step three however, you need to submit your Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Notices of Assessment (NOA) to IRCC.

IRCC has said it expects to receive the 10,000 applications in early 2021. As such, it will assess your income in 2018, 2019, and 2020. However, given it is unlikely you will have your 2020 NOA by early 2021, IRCC is allowing you to submit your 2020 NOA after you have submitted your sponsorship application.

The minimum income requirements are listed below if you live outside of Quebec. Quebec has its own income requirements that are also listed below).

To count the number of people you will be responsible for, you need to include the following:

• yourself (the sponsor);
• your spouse or common-law partner (they can also be co-signers on your application);
• your dependent children;
• your spouse’s or partner’s dependent children;
• another person you have sponsored before if you are still financially responsible for them;
• the parents and grandparents you want to sponsor
• dependents of the parents and grandparents you want to sponsor who you also want to sponsor (spouse or partner and dependent children);
• any dependent children that will not come to Canada with their parents or grandparents;
• the sponsor's parent or grandparent’s spouse or partner, even if they will not come to Canada;
• the separated spouse of the parent or grandparent

Read our PGP 2020 FAQs

Those that live in Quebec will have their income evaluated by the Quebec immigration ministry over the past 12 months. You can include your spouse or common-law partner as a co-signer.

The 2021 Parents and Grandparents Program will be three times larger than 2020. IRCC has stated it will invite up to 30,000 sponsors to submit PGP applications next year. Hence, even if you are not among the 10,000 sponsors for the 2020 PGP, you will have another major chance next year.

Are you eligible for PGP 2020? Complete our free eligibility tool!

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