Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is beginning to notify potential sponsors who filled out online forms to sponsor their parents and grandparents last fall from 13 October 2020 to 03 November 2020. The process of notification will be carried out over the next 10 days.
IRCC officials randomly picked the 10,000 sponsors after filtering out duplicate and incomplete forms. The selected sponsors will now require to submit the application officially.
The lottery was delayed due to global pandemic and other reasons as it was supposed to be held by the end of 2020.
The winners of the lottery have to submit their sponsorship application to the IRCC in 60 days. In the case of service disruption, IRCC will provide an extension. The sponsor must show the evidence and explanation that they could not be able to submit it within 60 days. However, the sponsor must submit all the documents as soon as they are available to them.
Immigration Minister of Canada, the honorable Marco Mendicino said this program is progressive and compassionate that it is unique to Canada.
He said that the government has done more than any other country in reuniting the families and keep families together, as it a central part of the immigration policy.
Mendicino said the government loosened income standards and provided for more flexible timelines, considering the misery caused by the worldwide pandemic.
In the past, Mendicino has said that the lottery system is the fairest way to administer the program.
For PGP sponsorship eligibility requirements, the sponsor must:
- be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident or an individual registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act.
- live in Canada
- be 18 years old at least
- fulfill the level of the minimum needed income
- show that they have sufficient money to support those they choose to sponsor.
- sign a sponsorship undertaking agreement. For sponsors and co-signers living outside of Quebec, the span of the undertaking is 20 years. For sponsors living in Quebec, the span of the undertaking is 10 years.
IRCC has earlier announced that the parent and grandparent sponsorship program process up to 30,000 applications in 2021. IRCC will announce the 2021 PGP details in the first half of the year. It will continue to opt for the lottery system again for this intake as well.
