Parent and Grandparent (PGP) Sponsorship program for 2021

Category: Travel

Considering the benefits of Canada immigration, thousands of young professionals across the world apply for permanent residency in Canada. Some take their parents along with them, while some wait for the right time to do so. The government of Canada gives a lot of importance to family reunification; thus, it has introduced several programs to help parents settle in Canada with their children.

Recently, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced the details of the Parent and Grandparent (PGP) Sponsorship Program for 2021. The program will operate as a lottery system, which will randomly invite approx. 40,000 applicants. Applicants who receive an invitation will have to submit the complete visa application within 60 days via IRCC’s Permanent Residence Digital Intake Tool.

At the beginning of 2021, IRCC invited 10,000 applicants and said they had invited an additional 30,000 applicants under the Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Program in 2021. Earlier, the program was meant to accept 20,000 applications in 2020, but it could not do so because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The addition of 40,000 invitations in 2021 is meant to compensate for the gap.

With effect from September 20, 2021, invitations under the PGP program will be sent for two weeks. Candidates who had expressed interest but had not received an invitation for Canada PR from India in 2020 will again be considered in the next 2021 draw.

PGP Lottery System- an Overview

From September 20, 2021, the PGP program will randomly send invitations to around 30,000 sponsors. These applicants must have had previously expressed an interest to during the last intake period in fall 2020.

Earlier, Canada had opted for a “first come, first served” system for the PGP applications. The lottery system was considered to be fairer than the previous one, benefiting to those who were geographically closer able to pay for the Canada PR fees.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible,

• The sponsor must be 18 years old and living in Canada as permanent residents or citizen

• Be able to demonstrate that they have sufficient funds to support the family members

• Be able to submit tax documents from the last three years as requested by IRCC.

Planning to invite your parents to Canada? We will be happy to assist you. Just give us a call on +91 8595338595 to get the best possible visa solutions.