Parents and Grandparents Immigration Program 2020 is now open: The Interest to Sponsor Form is officially available online between October 13, 2020 and November 3, 2020

by Catherine Jing Ou, Attorney

“Hey, why are you still here?!” My colleague asks as he stops by my office. I raise my head and notice his surprised look. I respond softly: “Yeah, I want to finish reading the pre-trial examination depositions…”

Now, I am the only one left in the office; sitting alone at the office of Kalman Samuels Attorneys’ law firm, located in the heart of the city. I look through the window and it is already dark outside. The warm, orange glow of the streetlamps is decorating the growing gloom. I glance down at the time on the computer screen, “Ah, it is already 8:30 in the evening! I haven’t had dinner yet.” I think to myself.

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional festival celebrated by many Asian families. I can see from my Facebook, Twitter, WeChat and Instagram that many of my friends in Asia are reuniting with their family members today to have dinner together, eat mooncakes together, carry lighting lanterns together and appreciate the full moon together. However, my parents and I are thousands of miles apart, thus I will be having dinner by myself.

Indeed, I miss my parents. I believe many foreign students, foreign workers, as well as young immigrants in Canada are eager to reunite with their families as soon as possible. The raging COVID-19 pandemic has made us think of our parents and friends more often than ever. We need hugs and support from our family to overcome this unprecedented global public health crisis. This much anticipated reunion is now becoming a possibility.

Now, the Parents and Grandparents Immigration Program 2020 is open! The Canadian immigration authorities has officially started accepting expression of interest to sponsor your parents and grandparents from October 13 to November 3. As

long as you have Canadian citizenship or permanent resident status, you can fill out and submit the interest to sponsor form online for free. The Canadian immigration authorities will randomly select 10 000 applications from the pool. Only the selected 10 000 candidates would be invited to submit the complete sponsorship applications for their parents or grandparents. The government will notify the candidates by email. Then, the applicant would have to submit all the supporting documents, such as the proof of required income for the 2020, 2019 and 2018 taxation years within 60 days. The applicants living in Quebec will have their income assessed by the Quebec’s Ministry of immigration based on the Quebec immigration rules (See the specific requirements of Quebec’s sponsored parent immigration). For applicants living in other provinces in Canada, please refer to the Federal Government’s specific requirements for sponsoring parents’ immigration to prepare application documents. The processing time of this application is around 20 to 24 months. During the processing time, the government may send emails to the applicants to request additional supporting documents.

Now is the time to apply to sponsor your parents and grandparents to come to Canada. We can start with submitting the interest to sponsor form together with some required documents such as a scanned copy of passport, a scanned copy of Canadian identity certificate, etc.

If you have any questions on your immigration matters, please make an appointment with us! We strive to provide you with the best and most realistic Canadian immigration plan according to your unique circumstances and the latest immigration policies.

(Reminder: The purpose of this article is to provide general legal information. It does not contain a full analysis of the law nor does it constitute a legal advice on the points of law discussed. To minimize the legal risk for your application, you must take specific legal advice from a lawyer on any particular matter which concerns you. Thanks for your attention.)