Parents and Grandparents Program will be open for 3 weeks

The long awaited 2020 Parents and Grandparents Sponsorship Program will open on October 13, 2020 at noon Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and will close on November 13, 2020 at noon Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

This time around Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) decided to go back to the lottery system that was in place two years ago. In other words, all interested applicants will have three weeks to notify IRCC that they wish to sponsor their parents or/and grandparents. IRCC will then choose the lucky ones who will be invited to sponsor their mother, father, grandmothers and/or grandfathers.

Here is a quick rundown of the process:

1. Canadian citizens and permanent residents (or sponsors) have from October 13, 2020 until November 13, 2020 to submit an interest to sponsor form. This form can be submitted online, on paper, in Braille or in large print.
2. After November 13, 2020 IRCC will randomly choose 10 000 Canadian citizens and permanent residents who will be invited to submit the permanent residence applications for their parents and/or grandparents.
3. Once the invitations to submit the PR applications are received, the sponsors will have 60 days to file the actual applications.

The interest to sponsor form must be filled out carefully. For example, an electronic copy of the sponsor’s proof of status in Canada must be 2MB or less. For other information on the details that the sponsors must include in the interest to sponsor form, please consult the following IRCC’s web page: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship/sponsor-parents-grandparents/tell-us-you-want-sponsor-parent-grandparent.html