September 14, 2018

Government of Canada to Improve Application Intake System and Accept more Sponsorship Applications for Parents and Grandparents

On 20 August 2018 the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that in 2019 the Government of Canada will accept up to 20 000 applications for the sponsorship of parents and grandparents, to help reunite more parents and grandparents with their families in Canada.

This decision to increase the number of applications that IRCC will accept for processing is a result of continually high demand in the Parents and Grandparents (PGP) Program and the fact that inventory of applications has dropped significantly over the last few years — from a peak of 167 000 people in 2011, to just under 26 000 people in June 2018.

Minister Hussen further announced that the government is making further changes to the application intake process that will streamline access to the program and improve client experience. In 2019, as in previous years, the Interest to Sponsor form will be available online, at the beginning of the year, so eligible potential sponsors can let IRCC know they wish to sponsor their parents and grandparents to come to Canada. However, instead of randomly selecting the sponsors to apply, potential sponsors will be invited to submit an application to sponsor their parents and grandparents based on the order in which IRCC receives their Interest to Sponsor forms. This process will continue until the 2019 cap of 20 000 complete applications is reached.

Further details of these improvements to the system will be announced this fall.