Canada: IRCC to accept a record number of applications for the 2021 Parents and Grandparents Program

Ottawa: Canada’s Parents and Grandparents (PGP) Program is unique in the world. It gives families the chance to reunite here, providing them the opportunity to thrive in this country. Family reunification plays a significant role in attracting, retaining and integrating immigrants who contribute to our success as a country.

Building on the success of the PGP Program in recent years, the Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, today announced that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will invite a record number of people to apply under the 2021 intake of the Program. IRCC will accept up to 30,000 additional applications, giving more Canadians and permanent residents than ever before the opportunity to bring their loved ones to Canada.

Using the same random selection process as used in previous years, IRCC will send invitations to potential sponsors who have already submitted an interest to sponsor form in 2020. This will give additional interested sponsors the opportunity to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada. Invitations to apply will be sent over the course of 2 weeks, starting the week of September 20, 2021.

Those invited to apply as part of this process will be able to use our new Permanent Resident Digital Intake tool, which allows applications to be submitted electronically. This is part of our commitment to modernize Canada’s immigration system, and will speed up and simplify the application process.

We know that many Canadian families have experienced financial difficulties in the last year because of the pandemic. For this reason, we will continue to implement a more facilitative income requirement to ensure that more people can apply.

For the 2020 tax year, the income requirement will continue to be the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30%, and will allow regular Employment Insurance benefits and temporary COVID-19 benefits, such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, to be included towards the sponsor’s income. This measure will ensure that applicants are not penalized for losing income during the pandemic.