The complete details regarding the visa program designed for parents and grandparents of Canadian permanent residents have not been released by the IRCC, but this update contains all the information that is available so far.
The Immigration Level Plan for the years 2021 through 2023 says that the IRCC has decided to set the immigration level through the parent and grandparent program at 23,500 for the year 2022. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the details were made public by the IRCC about the level of immigrants that will be accepted by this visa program in the first month of the year. But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, The Immigrant, Refugees, Citizenship Canada had decided to hold lotteries for the Parent and Grandparent Immigration Program in the autumn of the year 2020 as well as 2021.
We will know for sure in the future more when the IRCC gives more details as well as make clear the launch of the Parents and Grandparents Visa Program for this year. The format that the program will follow is also not clear as of now. In the last couple of years, the IRCC has always chosen the lottery method, in which sponsors who had submitted an application form as an expression of interest on the official site online were selected at random.
Even before the pandemic hit, IRCC was researching alternate methods to handle the procedure of the Parent And Grandparent Program because the demand for the visa was always exceeding the level that had been set and the number of spots that were available. Just in 2 years (2020 and 2021), the IRCC recorded around 200,000 forms as expressions of interest. The immigration officials are currently processing around 40,000 applications submitted under the Parent and Grandparent Visa program submitted in the years 2020 and 2021.
Some information is just not available right now. The IRCC continues to state that the processing time for the Parent and Grandparent Program is around 20-24 months. The eligibility criteria to become a sponsor under the Parent and Grandparent Program is as follows:
- The person looking to become a sponsor should have Canadian citizenship or at least be a permanent resident of Canada.
- The person can also be registered under the Canadian Indian Act.
- The person must be above 18 years.
- The person must be physically residing in the country to become a sponsor.
- The person also must meet the minimum income requirement that has been set by the IRCC for this program. A married couple or common-law partners can count their income together in case they are submitting a co-signed application.
- The person must submit proof of their income in the form of a Notice Of Assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency.
- The person will also be required to sign a legally binding undertaking stating that they are committing to provide financial support to the individual or individuals they are sponsoring for a time period of about 20 years and that they will repay any social assistance that the individual they are sponsoring may receive within this same time period.
- The minimum income that the person must have to become an eligible sponsor will vary depending on the size of their family as well as where they are residing in Canada. If the person resides in a province other than Quebec, their assessment will depend on their income from the 2019-2021 fiscal years. If the person is a resident of Quebec, their income from the last year will be taken into account for their assessment.
If you cannot wait for the Parent and Grandparent Program, you can apply for a Super Visa as an option to be reunited with your parents or grandparents, so that they can enter Canada more than once for the next 10 years to meet you.
