CIMM – Parents and Grandparents Program – February 28, 2024

Key Facts and Figures

• The Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) provides Canadian citizens and permanent residents the opportunity to sponsor their parents and grandparents for permanent residence. Sponsors must be at least 18 years old, meet an income threshold, and sign an undertaking to support their parents and grandparents for 20 years.
• Demand for parent and grandparent sponsorship is significantly greater than available admissions space in the Multi-year Levels Plan. To manage demand, IRCC receives a target number of complete applications each year. Prospective sponsors submit their interest during a designated Interest to Sponsor period, and the Department then invites a specified number to submit an application using a random selection process.
• In 2023, the Department invited sponsors from the approximately 108,000 who remain from the 2020 Interest to Sponsor pool to submit an application for the PGP. 24,200 invitations were sent in order to target receipt of 15,000 complete applications in 2023. As of February 20, 2024, processing times for parents and grandparents are approximately 24 months (50 months for Quebec)). Quebec-destined applications face additional delays in processing compared to other applicants, given limited level space under family class in Quebec’s levels plan.
• A longstanding human rights complaint (Attaran) has alleged that IRCC discriminates on the basis of family status, race, and national/ethnic origin because it takes longer to process parent and grandparents applications than other family class sponsorship categories (e.g. spouses and children). In 2023, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal dismissed the complaint. Both the Canadian Human Rights Commission and Dr. Attaran have sought judicial review of the dismissal.

Key Messages

• Family reunification is a pillar of Canada’s immigration system. Canada remains committed to helping Canadian citizens and permanent residents sponsor their loved ones to live and work alongside them in Canada. Our dedication to reuniting families through the Parents and Grandparents Program can be seen through our historically high admissions numbers for parents and grandparents under the Multi-Year Levels Plan.
• In 2023, IRCC welcomed 28,285 parents and grandparents as permanent residents. Admissions targets for this category are increasing to 32,000 in 2024 and 34,000 in 2025.
• Since demand for parent and grandparent sponsorship is significantly greater than available admission space, IRCC receives a target number of applications each year through an annual intake period. The Department recently completed the 2023 intake and targeted receipt of 15,000 applications.
• Parents and grandparents who were not invited to apply or who are waiting for their applications to be processed and wish to come to Canada may also be eligible to apply for a Super Visa, which is a multi-entry visa that allows parents or grandparents to stay in Canada for extended lengths of time.

Supplementary Information

If pressed on lottery / random selection process:

• The random selection model ensures that the process is fair and transparent, and that all interested sponsors have an equal opportunity to be invited to apply.

If pressed on annual intakes from the 2020 Interest to Sponsor pool:

• In the fall of 2020, interested sponsors had a three-week period to express their interest by submitting an Interest to Sponsor form. After the Interest to Sponsor period closed and duplicate forms were removed, a total of 203,213 Interest to Sponsor submissions remained. These submissions were used to invite sponsors for the 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 intakes.

• Following the 2023 intake, there are approximately 108,000 Interest to Sponsor submissions remaining in the pool.