ISA Global

The PGP 2021 lottery in Canada has been concluded.

On its website, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) stated that the process of issuing 30,000 lottery invites for this year’s lottery was completed yesterday. Between September 23 and October 4, the lottery was held.

Due to a technicality, the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) 2021 lottery was the largest ever. IRCC had intended to welcome 20,000 sponsors in 2020 and another 20,000 this year before the coronavirus epidemic. Due to pandemic-related disruptions, IRCC only invited 10,000 people last year and 30,000 this year.

The PGP 2021 lottery was only open to individuals who filled out interest to sponsor forms on the IRCC website in October and November 2020.

If you’ve been invited to the PGP 2021, double-check that you’re eligible before submitting your application. You have 60 days from the date of your invitation to submit your application.

Invitations to the PGP lottery are highly sought. The amount of sponsorship spots available vastly outnumbers the demand. IRCC said it received over 200,000 desire to sponsor forms in October/November 2020 during a recent conference with immigration representatives such as the Canadian Bar Association’s Immigration Law Section. Sponsors had a one-in-five chance of winning a sponsorship invitation for the PGP lotteries in 2020 and 2021 combined. Sponsored parents and grandparents are granted permanent residence status in Canada, with all of the benefits that come with it, including access to universal healthcare and a road to citizenship.

Process Details:

If you are invited to apply, you must submit and assess two applications for the parents and grandparents program: the sponsorship application and the application for permanent residency.

If both applications are granted, you’ll sign an undertaking, which begins the day the person you’re sponsoring (and their family members, if applicable) become permanent residents of Canada.

You can sponsor your own parents and grandparents, whether they are blood relatives or adopted relatives.

If you’re sponsoring divorced parents and grandparents, you’ll need to submit separate applications.

If your divorced parents or grandparents have a current spouse, common-law partner, or conjugal partner, they become dependants on the application and, if accepted, they can move to Canada with your parents and grandparents.

Only if they qualify as dependent children can you add your brothers and sisters, half brothers and sisters, or stepbrothers and stepsisters in the application.

All of the persons you want to sponsor, as well as their dependents, must meet the income standards (spouse, partner, and children).

Details regarding 2022’s upcoming PGP

The structure of the PGP 2022 is yet to be revealed by IRCC. Under the Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023, the IRCC hopes to welcome 23,500 parents and grandparents to Canada each year. This means that the number of PGP 2022 applications that IRCC will process will be similar to previous years. Prior to COVID, PGP updates were released in January of each year.

Alternative Option: Canadian Super Visa

You may want to consider the Super Visa as an option for reuniting with your parents and grandparents in Canada. Canadian citizens and permanent residents are encouraged to apply to IRCC for Super Visas, which allow their parents and grandparents to visit Canada several times over the course of ten years.