Parents and Grandparents Program re-opens this fall

Ottawa, September 8, 2023—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.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will continue to reunite families by accepting up to 15,000 complete applications for sponsorship under the Parents and Grandparents Program this year. On October 10, 2023, IRCC will begin sending invitations to apply to 24,200 interested potential sponsors, aiming to receive up to 15,000 complete applications. Invitations will be sent over the course of 2 weeks.

Due to the number of forms remaining in the pool of submissions from 2020, IRCC will send invitations to apply to randomly selected potential sponsors from that pool instead of opening a new interest to sponsor form. This is the same approach taken for the 2021 and 2022 intakes. Anyone who submitted an interest to sponsor form in 2020, but did not receive an invitation to apply in 2021 or 2022, is encouraged to check the email account they provided in 2020 when they submitted their interest to sponsor form.

Those invited to apply as part of the 2023 intake will continue to use the Permanent Residence Portal or the Representative Permanent Residence Portal, which allow applications to be submitted electronically. This is part of our commitment to modernize Canada’s immigration system and to speed up and simplify the application process.

Those who wish to reunite with their parents and grandparents in Canada, but who are not invited this year, may consider having their parents or grandparents apply for a super visa, which is a multiple-entry visa that is valid for up to 10 years. Enhancements to the super visa allow super visa holders to stay in Canada for 5 years at a time, with the option to extend their visit by up to 2 years at a time without leaving the country. These changes make it easier for Canadian citizens and permanent residents to reunite with their parents and grandparents in Canada for longer periods.

For information on previous application intakes for the Parents and Grandparents Program, see the recently published intake report on our website, The Parents and Grandparents Program: Intake Report 2014 to 2019. A more recent intake report covering the 2020 to 2022 application intakes will be published by the end of the year.