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Breaking News: 2020 Parent & Grandparent Sponsorship Program

6/10/2020

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Today the Government of Canada released details of the opening of the new intake process for parent and grandparent sponsorship in 2020. The new program is increased in capacity and will allow up to 10,000 eligible Canadians to apply to sponsor their parents or grandparents in 2020.  

Given the global pandemic that has led to long delays in the processing of visa and immigration applications, it looked like there would be no parent sponsorship intake for this year. However, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), just announced that they will open the parent and grandparent sponsorship intake process for 10,000 application on 13 October 2020, with a promise that the number of files that will be accepted will increase to 30,000 for 2021.  


In order to be eligible to sponsor a parent or grandparent you must:

·       Be at least 18 years old
·       Live in Canada
·       Be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act
·       Demonstrate you have sufficient income in the past three years to support your own family as well as the parent(s) or grandparent(s) you are sponsoring
·       sign an undertaking promising to provide for the basic requirements of the person being sponsored for a period of 20 years 

The income requirements are demonstrated through your income reported in your tax returns for the last three years. You may be able to count the income from your spouse or common-law partner to meet the requirement and your partner will become a co-signer of the application. You (and your co-signer) will be financially responsible for your parents or grandparents when they obtain permanent residency and will be required to provide an undertaking for 20 years that they will not use social assistance.  

IRCC is aware of the challenges that many Canadians have faced with reduced income and job losses in 2020 and may have accessed Canada Emergency Response Benefit or Employment Insurance. Therefore, IRCC has introduced a temporary policy that applies if applicants cannot meet the 2020 income requirements and the temporary policy will apply to new applications as well as applications already accepted for processing from prior years.  


If you are eligible, you will be able to register your interest to sponsor over a three-week period from 13 October to 3 November. A lottery will determine the applicants that will be selected and if you are selected you will have 60 days to submit a complete application including all the required documents. 


Interested in applying to sponsor your parents or grandparents? Contact us to assess your eligibility and start the process.
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Details Unveiled for 2019’s Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Program

17/1/2019

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The wait is over and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has finally released details of the much-anticipated reopening of the Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship (PGP) program for 2019.


One of the ways in which Canadian permanent residents and citizens can be reunited with their parents or grandparents permanently in Canada is through the PGP sponsorship program. IRCC has announced a quota of 20,000 PGP applications for 2019, double the quota of previous years. More importantly there are significant changes in the way you can submit an application in 2019. In the past two years the PGP has operated on a lottery basis but a new, first-come basis system is going to be used in 2019. In previous years up to 100,000 families registered for the lottery so I expect that there will a lot more families interested in applying than 20,000 and if you plan to submit an application you must prepare quickly and carefully.


Registration Process
Registration is set to open on 28 January 2019 at noon Eastern Standard Time. Registration will be online and you will be submitting an “interest to sponsor” form. The process will require information about yourself, your parents or grandparents and most importantly your income and information about your family unit. Your eligibility to sponsor is based on you having sufficient income in your last three years of income based on your family size and the number of people you are sponsoring. You should also note that the PGP is only for those who are living in Canada to sponsor their parents or grandparents and cannot be used if you are a permanent residents or citizens living outside of Canada.


You may submit your online registration yourself or retain a lawyer to undertake the process for you. If you are registering yourself make sure you do not submit duplicate entries as these will be removed from the system. The system will likely be overrun with requests on the first day, nevertheless, I highly recommend that you try to submit your application on the first day.


Confirmation Number
After you successfully submit the interest to sponsor form you will be given a “confirmation number”. The system should also send an email to the email address that you provide to confirm your registration. In the weeks after the registration you should be on the lookout to receive an email from IRCC if you are one of the first 20,000 registrants and are invited to submit a complete application.


Submitting a Complete Application
If you are lucky enough to receive an invitation to submit your sponsorship application you will have a short window in which to gather all of your documents, complete all the forms and submit the complete submission application along with the necessary application fees (determined by the number of people you are sponsoring). These include key documents such as identity documents for yourself and your parents and grandparents, your proof of income, and original police clearances for your parents and grandparents. Any documents that are not in English or French must be officially translated as per the requirements of IRCC.


The deadline for submission of your complete application is a strict deadline and extensions are not granted. Furthermore, it is critical that your application is complete and includes all the information and requested documents, including any country-specific documents. If you make a mistake or a document is missing, your complete application may be returned to you and you will not be able to resubmit the application in 2019.


Determining Eligibility
Are you sure that you qualify to sponsor your parents? Do your parents have young dependent children that may be eligible to join your parents? Has your family size changed in the past three years and you are unsure of how much income you need to sponsor? The good news is that you still have time to contact an experienced immigration lawyer to assess your situation and ensure that you are eligible to apply before the registration begins on 28 January 2019.
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Preparing for 2019 Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Applications

15/11/2018

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Many Canadian families are eagerly awaiting news from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to find out if they will have a chance to be reunited with their parents, and even grandparents, under the Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship (PGP) program.


Each year we have faced different conditions under the PGP: in 2015 applicants had to submit complete applications on the first working day in January and the quota of 5,000 applicants was filled in one or two days. Then in 2016 and 2017 IRCC increased the quota to 10,000 and moved to a lottery system. However, the lottery system was fraught with problems as many people signed up that did not qualify (they did not have the necessary income for the past three years to be able to sponsor) which resulted in delays and it is not ultimately clear if IRCC was able to meet its quota in each of those years.


The latest news that was released in August 2018 is with regards to the 2019 PGP program. Here is what we know so far:
  1. Since IRCC has been able to reduce its backlog of applications from 167,000 in 2011 to just over 20,000 in 2018, it has allowed been able to increase the quota for 2019. The 2019 quota under the PGP is set to be 20,000 applications.
  2. The system will no longer be a lottery and will be based on the order in which you register your interest to sponsor.
  3. Beginning at the start of 2019, if you are eligible to sponsor your parents or grandparents, you will be able to register an “expression of interest”. IRCC will issue invitations to apply to eligible applicants until the 20,000 quota for 2019 is met based on the order in which files are submitted.
  4. If you submit an expression of interest and are selected you will only have 90 days to submit a complete application or risk losing your chance to sponsor.


If you are interested in sponsoring your parents, here are 5 important points to understand:
​1.  In order to be eligible to sponsor your parent or grandparents you will need to meet the eligibility requirements, the most important of which is that you must have had sufficient income for the past three years. The minimum level of income you need will depend on the number of people in your family and the number of people you want to sponsor. For example, for a family of 3 that want to sponsor their parents, they have to have at least the following income: 2017: $67,400,  2016: $66,654, and 2015: $65,377.

You will also need to meet the minimum income for 2018 which has not yet been announced but will be slightly higher than the 2017 amounts. And you will also need to meet all the income requirements until the time your application to sponsor is finalized. The minimum income levels for 2015, 2016 and 2017 based on number of family members are as follows:

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NOTE: The above amounts apply to residents of all province except Quebec. ​

2. If the number of people in your family has changed in the last 3 years you should pay close attention. For example, if you were a couple in 2015 but had a child in 2016, then your family unit now consists of 3 people but consisted of 2 people in the earlier year. The question is what level of income should you have? There is no clear guidance on this from IRCC but in order to minimize any risk you should count on having the higher income level based on the number of family members you currently have.
3. If your own income is not sufficient to sponsor your parent(s) or grandparent(s), it is possible for your husband or wife to act as co-signer for the application and have his or her income count towards meeting the income requirements. You should be aware that if your co-sponsor changes his or her mind or there is a breakdown of marriage you may not longer be able to meet the income requirements at the time your application is being considered in the future and therefore will not be eligible to sponsor your application.

4.  When you sponsor your parents or grandparents you give an undertaking that they will not use public assistance for a period of 20 years from the time of their landing in Canada. This is a binding undertaking and if the people you sponsor access public assistance you will be required to pay back these sums, often times with interest and penalties. If you have a co-signer this is a binding obligation on your co-signer as well.

5.  Planning ahead can help you ensure that you are ready to submit a complete application. Unfortunately details of how the PGP will work in 2019 have not been announced but I have been working with clients over the past few weeks to assess their eligibility and have started to gather all their documents. If you are interested in applying to sponsor your parents or grandparents you should start your preparation process as soon as possible and if necessary seek out professional assistance to assist you in this process.


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2018 Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Lottery Result

6/4/2018

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The results of the 2018 Parent and Grandparent (PGP) Sponsorship lottery were announced beginning on 19 March 2018 and thousands of families across Canada received good news emails inviting them to submit applications to sponsor their parents or grandparents.


In 2017 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) introduced a new “lottery” system to select applicants to fill its quota of 10,000 applications. In 2017 more than 95,000 people registered with IRCC and while the 2018 numbers have not been released it will be at least the same if not more than last year.


If you are one of the lucky families that has been selected to submit a PGP sponsorship application you must act fast as applicants only have 60 days to submit a complete application.


  1. Check your email (including your spam folder) or use the confirmation number to look up if you were selected online
  2. Ensure that you meet the eligibility criteria (refer to my previous articles available on the Salam Toronto website) and if there are any questions regarding your eligibility you should speak with an immigration lawyer immediately
  3. Gather all the required documents for yourself and your parents – whether you are applying for yourself or with the assistance of a representative, it is extremely important that your application is complete and meets all the requirements. I have unfortunately seen applications returned for missing a single check mark or photograph so it is imperative that you submit a complete application


While the key requirement for PGP sponsorship applications is the minimum necessary income you must show as the sponsor there are often complex questions that arise. In order to meet this income requirement, you can combine your income and that of a co-signer for the past three years. The co-signer can be your spouse or common-law partner. The co-signer must also be eligible to sponsor and co-sign the undertaking of support for the period of 20 years. What happens if the number of people in your family changes (you become married or a child) during the three years that you have to show income? What if you lose the support of your co-signer as part of the application? In these cases you should consult with an immigration lawyer as soon as possible to ensure that you are able to submit a successful application.


The amount of income you must have depends on the size of your family and the number of people you are sponsoring. For example, if you are a family of three sponsoring both your mother and father, you (along with a potential co-signer) need to show income of at least $65,377 in 2015 and $66,654 in 2016, and $67,400 in 2017. This amount varies based on the number of people in your family and those being sponsored. Your income over the three year period is verified based on proof of income from the Canada Revenue Agency.


Given the short period of time you have to submit your application you should try to submit your PGP application as soon as possible. If you were not lucky enough to receive an invitation do not give up and keep your confirmation number: last year not all the people who were selected in the first round submitted their applications and there was a second round announced in August 2017. 
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    Authors: 
    Zeynab Ziaie 
    Zahra Ziaie 

    Note: This information is not intended as legal advice or opinion. You should always seek specialized legal advice with regards to your situation as the facts of each case are unique and the application of law varies in every case. 

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