Victor IngStarting on May 21, 2024 the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will begin inviting eligible Canadian citizens and permanent residents over the course of approximately two weeks to sponsor their parents and grandparents for permanent residence in Canada. Here is everything you need to know ahead of the May 21 date.
For the fourth consecutive year since 2021, IRCC will be re-opening the Parents and Grandparents sponsorship (PGP) program to receive new applications to sponsor from Canadian citizens and permanent residents who filed an interest to sponsor form in 2020. This latest news does not come as a surprise to those who have been closely following the PGP program for years because we know that there are still many sponsors who submitted an interest to sponsor form in 2020 and are still waiting for their chance to bring their loved ones to Canada. Still, this year’s PGP announcement stands out for several reasons.
Firstly, IRCC will accept more PGP sponsorship applications in 2024 than they did in the previous two years. For 2024, IRCC will send out 35,700 invitations to sponsor, with the expectation of receiving about 20,500 complete applications – IRCC sends out more invitations than the number of applications they intend to accept because they know that not everyone who is invited to sponsor will do so, and this would include situations where a family member has changed their minds about applying or where a sponsor or family member has suddenly passed away.
In contrast, in both 2022 and 2023 IRCC sent about 23,000 to 24,000 invitations with the goal of receiving 15,000 complete applications for each year. The increased 2024 application intake target aligns with the Minister of IRCC’s goals of increasing overall admissions of new permanent residents to about 500,000 per year by 2025, and it also ensures that the 2020 pool of sponsors can be exhausted as soon as possible.
Secondly, for the past several years the announcement of the re-opening of the PGP has come in the fall. The fact that this announcement is being made in the spring suggests that there is a push from IRCC to start processing these applications as soon as possible, and there is certainly data to back this up.
Every year the Minister is required by law to report to Parliament with information about current immigration programs, objectives and targets for the future, and immigration outcomes in the previous calendar year. The 2023 annual report published last fall provided a clear picture regarding the current state of the PGP program. Specifically, the Minister reported that IRCC receives more PGP applications each year than they can approve, so they are certainly aware that this is an issue that needs addressing.
According to the 2023 annual report, 27,262 new permanent residents were admitted to Canada in 2022 under the PGP program, but there were still 52,960 applicants waiting for processing in the inventory. With a growing inventory comes longer processing times and, according to IRCC’s website, the current processing time to be approved for permanent residence under a PGP program sponsorship is 20 months, though many applicants are experiencing even longer processing times than that. Imagine the frustration of waiting years for the chance to sponsor a parent or grandparent, only to be told that it will take many more years for them to be approved. Anecdotally, from my own experience serving immigration clients, it is not uncommon for it to take one full year before IRCC even acknowledges receipt of a PGP application, and we have personally experienced situations where parents have passed away during the application process.
The Minister’s latest announcement represents positive news for Canadian citizens and permanents who submitted interest to sponsor forms in 2020 to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada. Higher admission targets, coupled with what is hopefully a push to improve processing times, will be greatly appreciated by those fortunate sponsors who receive an invitation to sponsor this year.
However, IRCC’s efforts are not nearly enough for those still waiting in the 2020 pool of sponsors or for those who have since become eligible to sponsor. In less than 10 years Canada’s immigration program has grown from bringing approximately 250,000 immigrants to Canada each year to 500,000. We have doubled the number of immigrants that we are accepting in Canada, but the sponsorship of parents and grandparents has not kept pace. Together with the fact that the program has been closed for the past five years to new Canadian citizens and permanent residents who wish to sponsor their parents and grandparents, there will be considerable pent-up demand for future PGP applications.
To put things in perspective, according to CBC News, IRCC reportedly received about 200,000 interest to sponsor forms in 2020. With about 132,000 invitations being sent in the five years between 2020 to 2024, it will still be several years before the 2020 pool is fully exhausted. Those who are looking to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada will have to be satisfied with the option to bring them as long-term visitors under IRCC’s Super Visa program, or look for other creative solutions to obtain permanent residency status for them outside of the PGP program.
