PARENT AND GRANDPARENT SPONSORSHIP

Canadian citizens and permanent residents who meet certain eligibility criteria are able to sponsor their parents or grandparents for permanent residence in Canada. Family reunification is a high priority for Canada.

How it worked in past

In the years 2017 and 2018, the Parent and Grandparent Program (PGP) introduced a lottery system for selection, so candidates were randomly picked and selected as draw

In 2019, Parent and Grandparent will be returning to a first-come, first-served system.

Submit the interest to sponsor form

The interest to sponsor form will be available at noon EST on January 28, 2019.

We’ll accept form submissions on a first-in basis. As soon as we get enough submissions, the form will no longer be available.

n 2019, the interest to sponsor form will be open for a limited time, and we’ll accept 27,000 submissions on a first-in, first-served basis.

We’ll invite potential sponsors to submit a complete application in the same order we receive the interest to sponsor forms.

Rounds of invitations

When we invite a group of potential sponsors to submit a complete application, we call this a round of invitations. Depending on the number of complete applications we receive, we may do more than 1 round of invitations.

For 2019, we’ll invite enough sponsors to receive 20,000 complete applications.

For each round of invitations:

• We only email the selected potential sponsors.

• We post your invitation status on this page.

If you’re invited to submit a complete application

We must receive your complete application within 60 days. The exact deadline will be specified in your invitation.

If you mail your application and we receive it after the deadline, we’ll return it to you. You can’t delay your invitation and apply later. You won’t get another invitation.

When you’re invited to apply, you’re automatically removed from our list of potential sponsors. If you’re invited this year but you change your mind at the time you receive your invitation, you’ll have to submit another interest to sponsor form if you want to sponsor your parents and grandparents again next year.

If you’re not invited to apply

CIC will accept interest to sponsor forms on a first-in basis for a limited time once the form opens, starting at noon EST on January 28. Make sure you complete it as soon as you can after it opens.

• To submit the form, you'll need to provide a digital copy of a document that shows your status in Canada, like a passport, birth certificate, or PR Card. Get this ready in advance. Here are instructions on how to do this: http://ow.ly/uyjU30npvGV. The file size must be 2.5 MB or smaller. If your file is too big, you won't be able to upload it to the form. If you need to make your file smaller, here are some instructions: http://ow.ly/qMqM30npvHj.

• You'll also need other information, including your family name, date of birth, family size, etc. A full list of the information you'll need to provide is available here: http://ow.ly/DnTl30npvLB. Information about how to count family size is here: http://ow.ly/pYzw30npvMr.

• If you successfully submit the form, you'll see a confirmation page with a confirmation number. Make sure you keep this number for your records. You'll also get an email confirmation within 24 hours (if you don't see it, check your spam folder).

• When we start to invite potential sponsors to submit applications, we'll contact them in the order in which we received interest to sponsor forms.

Note: We’ll invite potential sponsors to submit a complete application in the same order we receive the interest to sponsor forms.

We’ll start sending invitations after we review the submissions and remove duplicates.

From this pool of interested sponsors, IRCC will accept 20,000 complete applications, inviting applications from candidates based on the order in which their Interest to Sponsor forms are received. If they receive an invitation to apply, they will have 60-90 days to submit a complete application.

SUPER VISA

A Super Visa is a multiple re-entry visa valid for up 10 years so your parents or grandparents can come and go from Canada