Immigration, Refugees and Citizen Canada Are Increasing their Parents and Grandparents Admission Levels to Canada

On August 20, 2018, the Honourable Ahmed Hussein announced that the Government of Canada will be accepting up to 20,000 parental and grandparental applications in 2019. This announcement comes shortly after Immigration, Refugees and Citizen Canada (IRCC) increased their 2018 cap to accepting 17,000 complete applications under this program. The main reasons for these increases in applications being accepted are family reunification, the continuous demand of the program, and the decrease of the inventory of applications. These numbers have come a long way from 2014, where only 5,000 applications under this program were being accepted.

In addition, to streamline the application process, IRCC will no longer be using their current random selection process for inviting potential sponsors to submit an application to sponsor their parents and/or grandparents. Instead, starting 2019, IRCC will invite potential sponsors to submit an application based on the order in which IRCC receives their Interest to Sponsor form. As in 2018, the Interest to Sponsor form will be available online at the start of the 2019 year. However, unlike the 2018-year process, the order in which the forms are received will be of utmost importance to potential sponsors.

For further information on Sponsoring Parents and Grandparents to Canada or any Canadian immigration matters, please contact pinaz@prmlaw.ca.