Canada immigration program now welcomes Parents and Grandparents as a pathway to family reunification. This program will be effective from July 28, 2025.
As a part of Family unification, Canadian citizens and permanent residents will now have the opportunity to sponsor their parents and grandparents for permanent residency. The program will invite 17,860 applications, with the aim of accepting 10,000 applications for this year. The invitations are supposedly to those who have submitted their applications in 2020.
This program is an initiative by IRCC as an easy pathway for those who have left their families behind in search of new opportunities.
Parents and Grandparents Program
Parents and grandparents program is an opportunity route that allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their parents to stay with them and reside as permanent residents of Canada. Potential sponsors who submitted their applications in 2020 will be entertained this year.
However, invited applicants who will not receive acceptance can also sponsor their parents through the Super visa program. A super visa is an alternative route that allows Canadian citizens and Canadian PR holder to sponsor their parents and can make them reside in Canada for an extended period of time, up to 10 years. For this visa type, the applicant must have health insurance before arriving in Canada.
Usually, Canada's visitor allows individuals to stay up to only 6 months. But with Canada super visa, now sponsors can make their parents stay for a longer period of time.
How to apply for the Parent and Grandparent Program
PGP requires a route that fetches ITA (Invitation to Apply), and this can be achieved in such a way:
1. Eligibility
The basic eligibility criteria for PGP is the applicant must be sponsored from a potential sponsor residing in Canada.
2. Application completion
The next step is to check whether the application is from a potential sponsor and has made an interest in the year 2020 but haven’t received any response or ITAs over the years.
3. Confirmation
As IRCC will continue to send confirmation email to eligible candidates for two weeks after the program opening date.
4. Application submission
Once receiving an Invitation to Apply (ITA), submit your application through the Permanent Residence Portal or Representative Residence Portal.
Canada’s initiative of allowing parents and grandparents to get sponsored from potential sponsors gives rise to family reunification.
