Parents and Grandparents Program is now sending invitations to apply for PR. These invitations are being sent via email to the sponsors, who submitted an expression of interest for this program in 2020. This expression of interest opened between October 13 to November 3 in 2020. This year’s PGP is different because it’s not accepting new expression of interests and will only be considering the profiles submitted last year. This year, Canada will be sending record number of invitations at 30,000. Immigration Canada has asked the sponsors to keep checking their emails over the period of next 2 weeks as these 30,000 invitations will be sent during this time.
However, selection is based on lottery based system in which profiles are randomly selected.
IRCC shared this information via notice on their official website. Cumulatively 40,000 sponsors who submitted their interests in 2020 are getting a chance to have PR for their parents and grandparents. On the other hand, new sponsors waiting for PGP 2021 will not get chance to participate. In the previous PGP, IRCC only accepted 10,000 applications.
Furthermore, IRCC has also shared the information for sponsors who might have lost their confirmation number or who are using a different email now. Such sponsors can retrieve their confirmation number and invitation status and enter a new email address using the Lost My Confirmation Number tool. This tool will become available once all invitations to apply have been sent out.
Sponsors invited during these 2 weeks will have to submit their applications within 60 days of receiving the invitation. They will have to submit the application using IRCC’s new Permanent Residence Portal. Those who cannot apply online, can request a paper version of the application package by sending IRCC an email by October 21, 2021.
PGP 2021 will continue to consider minimum necessary income only for tax year 2020, rather than normal eligibility of minimum necessary income + 30%. This requirement was reduced in 2020 because of COVID. Also Employment Insurance benefits and temporary COVID-19 benefits, such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, will also be included towards the sponsor’s income.
