In yet another stringent move for immigration, the Canadian federal government will no longer accept new applications sponsoring parents and grandparents for permanent residence in 2025.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced that throughout 2025, Canada will only process family sponsorship applications made under the Parents and Grandparents Programme (PGP) that were submitted in 2024.

The IRCC intends to process a maximum of 15,000 sponsorship applications throughout 2025.

This means that Canadian citizens and permanent residents who wish to have their parents and grandparents join them for an extended period in Canada can still sponsor their relatives for a super visa, which allows their relatives to visit them in Canada for up to five years at a time.

What is the Parents and Grandparents Programme?

This programme allows you to sponsor your parents and grandparents to become permanent residents of Canada.

Under PGP, you commit to support the people you’re sponsoring (your parents and grandparents and their accompanying family members, if applicable) for a period of time, even if your situation changes.

In May 2024, IRCC randomly invited potential sponsors who submitted an interest to sponsor form in 2020 to apply for the 2024 intake.

However, the department is not accepting applications as the last day was August 2, 2024.

In 2024, IRCC  sent 35,700 invitations over approximately 2 weeks. Their goal was to accept up to 20,500 complete applications.

In the earlier Immigration Levels Plan, published in 2023, IRCC had set targets of 32,000 for 2024, and 34,000 for 2025, according to reports.

Why the pause?

According to reports, IRCC cut permanent resident targets by 20% for 2025. Part of this cut included a reduction in the allocation for landings under the PGP. The 2025 target is 24,500 landings for foreign nationals sponsored through the PGP.

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