Sponsor your parents and grandparents: Find out if you’re invited to apply

The first step toward becoming a sponsor is to submit an interest to sponsor form. It was available for a 3 week period in 2020. The form is now closed.

We haven’t invited anyone yet in 2020

In 2020, the interest to sponsor form will be open from noon EDT on October 13, 2020 until noon EST on November 3, 2020. We remove duplicates and keep only the last submission. We then randomly select and invite potential sponsors to apply.

This year, we’ll send enough invitations to make sure we can reach the annual cap of 10,000 applications.

Sending invitations

When we invite a group of potential sponsors to apply, we call this a round of invitations. For 2020’s invitations:

• We only email you if you’re invited to apply. To make sure you don’t miss our email:
  • Check the same email account you used on the interest to sponsor form.
  • Check your junk mail and spam folder to see if an email from us is there.
  • Let us know if your email address changed.
• We announce the round of invitations on our Facebook page, our Twitter account and on our website.
• We post information in a tool on this page. You can use it to check your invitation status using your confirmation number.

If you’re invited to apply

We need to receive your sponsorship application within 60 days. The exact deadline will be in your invitation to apply.

If your application isn’t complete, we return it to you without processing it. However, for the 2020 process, we know that you may not get your 2020 Notice of Assessment (NOA) until after you apply. So, for the 2020 process, we’ll accept your application if you submit your NOAs for the 2018 and 2019 tax years, and submit your 2020 NOA as soon as it’s available.

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

When you’re invited to apply, you’re automatically removed from our pool of potential sponsors for 2020. If you’re invited this year but you change your mind about applying, you have to submit another interest to sponsor form in another year if you still want to sponsor your parents and grandparents.

If you’re not invited to apply

Parents and grandparents can visit for extended periods

If you’d like your parents and grandparents to come to Canada, they may be eligible to apply for a super visa which could let them

• stay in Canada for up to 2 years at a time
• apply to extend their stay by up to 1 year at a time