Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced last Friday that the interest to sponsor form under the new Parents and Grandparents (PGP) program will be available online at noon on Jan. 28. The revised PGP program will feature a “first-in-first-served” approach for a limited time and the form will no longer be available when the IRCC receives 27,000 submissions.
While the IRCC will accept 27,000 parents and grandparents interest to sponsor forms, it will invite potential sponsors to complete 20,000 applications.
Eligibility to sponsor
Before submitting your parents and grandparents interest to sponsor form make sure that you’re eligible:
- Be at least 18 years old
- You reside in Canada
- Canadian citizen, Permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act.
- You meet the minimum income requirement to support your parents or grandparents. You must show proof of income to show you meet this requirement.
Once you’ve established your eligibility you need to gather the information needed for the parents and grandparents interest to sponsor form and submit an electronic copy of your proof of status in Canada. Proof of status is a new requirement of the PGP program being implemented this year.
The interest to sponsor form will ask for the sponsor’s family and given names, date of birth, country where the sponsor was born, Canadian residential address of the sponsor, e-mail address, the number of family members the sponsor has, the total number of persons that will be sponsored and their date of birth, and the sponsor’s status in Canada document number and electronic signature.
IRCC will accept the following proof of status in Canada document:
- Permanent Resident card (both sides)
- Record of Landing (IMM 1000)
- Confirmation of Permanent Residence (IMM 5292 or IMM 5688)
- Canadian Citizenship Certificate or card (both sides)
- Canadian birth certificate. If you’re born in Quebec, submit the birth certificate issued by the Directeur de l’État civil.
- Canadian passport (pages showing passport number, date of issue and expiration, photo, name, surname, place and date of birth)
- Secure certificate of Indian status
After submission…
You will receive a confirmation e-mail from IRCC after submitting your interest to sponsor. They will send potential sponsors an invitation to apply after reviewing the interest forms and discarding duplicate submissions. Invitations will be sent in the order that interest forms were received.
You must submit your completed application within 60 days when you receive an invitation from IRCC. However, if you don’t receive an invitation to apply, IRCC will keep your submission and contact information so it’s always good to keep your e-mail address up to date.
If you’ve been looking to sponsor your parents or grandparents and need help with the process you can send us an e-mail at info@accesspro-immigration.ca