The conference of the Canadian Bar Association which was held recently saw a change in the Parent and Grandparent Program. A representative coming from the IRCC, that is Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, had stated that further invitations may be included in the present list of applicants for the PGP or Parent and Grandparent Program to nominate their respective parents and grandparents for a permanent residency in Canada. If that second draw is to be conducted then it will be happening in a few months time.
Parent and Grandparent Program – First come first serve process – New process
Before 2017, applications to the Parent and Grandparent Program were accepted on the basis of first come first serve process. But this turned out to be an unfair process as some people who had more money made their applications go in front of the queue. But with the new process,
IRCC not only shoved away ground for impartiality but also cleared all the existing backlogs. It had resumed the process in 2011 for accomplishing the goal of no backlogs. Then it was restarted in the year 2014 and at that time it was limited to 5,000 applicants. Then finally in 2016, that number was increased to 10,000 applicants.
What happened that led to the introduction of a second chance for Parents and Grandparents Draw?
In the month of January in 2017, a new system regarding sponsoring of parents and grandparents for permanent residency in Canada was introduced by IRCC. But how were the forms selected? Well, they were selected quite randomly out of the total applicants. Those who had submitted their forms between the time span of 3rd January and 2nd February of 2017, ha d been allotted to a pool of candidates. After the closure of the application process, on 25th April, it was announced by IRCC that the total number of applicants were 95,000 out which 10,000 were selected as potential sponsors and the selected ones were asked to fill up the sponsorship form.
The time span that was given to them to submit a complete application was 90 days from that day they were invited to do so. But what turned the events and made the introduction of a second chance? Well, only 700 applications were received after the invitation and out of that 15% was incomplete.
What is the eligibility for the Parent and Grandparent Program?
Like all other processes, even the Parent and Grandparent Program has its own eligibility criteria which have to be fulfilled by all applicants. These are:
- The sponsors must be a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen
- They must be at least of 18 years of age or more.
- The candidates must also meet at least the mentioned income group. That income must be for three years consecutively if that person resides in a province other than Quebec and in the case of Quebec it can be considered for 1 year.
- The candidate must sign to affirm that he or she will repay any assistance or benefit taken from the sponsor for a time span of 20 years if residing in a province other than that of Quebec. For Quebec, it is 10 years.
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