Canada halts Parents and Grandparents Program for 2025
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Ottawa: The Canadian federal government has decided not to accept any new applications for sponsoring parents and grandparents for permanent residence in 2025, NDTV reported.
As per the announcement by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the administration will only process family sponsorship applications that were submitted in 2024 under the Parents and Grandparents Program this year.
Over the course of 2025, IRCC will process a maximum of 15,000 sponsorship applications, the Canadian immigration news website CIC informed.
Canada’s Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) allows Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and registered Indians to sponsor their parents and grandparents to immigrate to the country. Parents and grandparents approved under this program receive Canadian permanent residence. Eventually, they could apply for Canadian citizenship too.
Those sponsored through PGP could enjoy the full benefits of Canadian permanent residence, such as permission to work there, obtain health care, get full protection under Canadian law, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and apply to become a Canadian citizen once they meet the eligibility criteria.
Since there are a lot more sponsors interested in the programme than available sports, IRCC uses a lottery system to issue invitations to apply. Between 2020 and 2024, IRCC issued invitations to sponsors who had submitted forms during the 2020 intake, according to NDTV.
Canada shortened the permanent resident targets by 20 per cent for 2025, and this included a reduction in the allocation of landings under the PGP programme.