Parents and Grandparents Program will accept no new applications in 2025

The Canadian federal government will not accept any new applications for sponsoring parents and grandparents for permanent residence in 2025.

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

The department intends to process a maximum of 15,000 sponsorship applications over the course of 2025.

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 can allow their relatives to visit them in Canada for up to five years at a time.

About the Parents and Grandparents Program

The Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) allows Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and registered Indians to sponsor their parents or grandparents for Canadian permanent residency.

As their are far more interested sponsors than there are available spots, the PGP uses a lottery system to issue invitations to apply to those who have submitted an interest to sponsor form.

From 2020 through to 2024, IRCC issued invitations to sponsors who had submitted forms during the 2020 intake.

Rationale for the Pause

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.

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

About the Immigration Levels Plan

Each year’s Immigration Levels Plan sets out targets for landings of permanent residents in the following year, and provisional targets for the following two years.

This year’s Plan was the first to include targets for net new temporary residents.

About the super visa

If you cannot sponsor your parent or grandparent for permanent residency, but want them to live with you in Canada for an extended period, you may be able to sponsor your relative for a super visa.

A super visa allows its holder to legally stay in Canada as a temporary resident for up to five years at a time. The super visa can also allow for multiple entries to Canada for up to a 10-year period.

To sponsor your parent or grandparent for a super visa, you must

• Be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or registered Indian;
• Be living in Canada;
• Be 18 years of age or older;
• Meet IRCC’s minimum income requirements, based on the size of your family; and
• Promise financial support for your relative during their stay.

Your parent or grandparent will have to

• Purchase health insurance for the duration of their stay in Canada; and
• Be admissable to Canada.

Foreign nationals must apply for a super visa from outside Canada.

Unlike permanent residency, the super visa does not authorize holders to work or study in Canada, or to live in Canada on a permanent basis.

If your relative intends to visit you only for 6 months or less, they may request entry to Canada on regular visitor status, rather than applying for a super visa.