Emails have been sent out from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) inviting applicants to apply to sponsor parents or grandparents as part of the 2023 intake of the Parents and Grandparents Program.
Sponsor your parents and grandparents for Canadian immigration
If you have received an email, you and the parents and grandparents you want to sponsor must submit a complete application online through the Permanent Residence Portal. The application must be submitted by the principal applicant (your parent or grandparent) or by an authorized representative on their behalf.
If an authorized representative is submitting the application online on behalf of the principal applicant, the authorized representative must sign into their Representative Residence Portal account to do so.
IRCC must receive your application on or before December 22nd, 2023 at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time. IRCC will not accept late or incomplete applications.
If you, your parents or grandparents or the representative cannot apply online, you may ask for an application in an alternate format.
Uploading your information and supporting documents
You should receive a barcode in your email from IRCC that will match your application to the information you submitted when you expressed your interest to sponsor. You must apply a digital copy of that page under the section “Additional Supporting Documents” with the Document name of “Other” in the portal.
To make sure your application is complete:
- Follow all the steps in the application guide linked here.
- The information in your sponsorship application must match all the information you put on your 2020 Interest to Sponsor form, including a copy of the exact status in Canada document you submitted.
- You must pay all fees online. IRCC does not accept any other method of payment. If you do not provide proof of payment for the required fees, your application will be deemed incomplete and IRCC will not accept it for processing.
- Find out if you need biometrics. If you do, it is recommended that you pay the biometrics fee at the same time as your application fees.
- You can submit your Social Insurance Number (SIN) and give IRCC your consent on the Financial Evaluation for Parents and Grandparents Sponsorship (IMM 5768) form. This allows IRCC to receive your personal income tax information directly from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to see if you meet the income requirements.
- If you do not want to provide your consent and SIN, you must complete and submit the Income Sources for the Sponsorship of Parents and Grandparents (IMM 5748) form along with your Notices of Assessment issued by the CRA for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 tax years.
- You can obtain your personal tax information using the CRA’s My Account online service.
Minimum necessary income requirements
The sponsor and your co-signer (if applicable) must meet a Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) requirement for each of the 3 consecutive tax years immediately preceding the date of your application. For the 2023 intake, IRCC assesses sponsors on their income for the tax years 2022, 2021 and 2020.
The income requirement for the 2020 and 2021 tax years continues to be reduced to the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30% to help ensure that no one is penalized for a temporary loss of income during the pandemic.
MNI is an important eligibility factor for the PGP. The MNI shows proof that a sponsor is financially able to support the people they would like to bring to Canada through the PGP. Click here to see the MNI for the PGP.
Sponsor your parents and grandparents for Canadian immigration