Canada Immigration announced details for the opening of the 2020 Parents and Grandparents Program. Canada Immigration, some days ago announced some exemption for international students and family members travelling and again today, they confirmed that they are supporting families. Over a 3-week period, from 12 p.m. EDT on October 13, 2020, to 12 p.m. EST on November 3, 2020, Canadians and permanent residents who wish to sponsor their parents and grandparents to come to Canada will have an opportunity to submit an interest to sponsor form online.
IRCC will randomly select potential sponsors and send them an invitation to submit an application. Selected applicants will have 60 days to submit their application.
A noticeable change also is for people who were financially affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. IRCC is introducing a temporary public policy that will reduce the income requirement for the 2020 tax year to the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30%.
The government knows how important it is for families to be together, particularly during difficult times. The launch of the 2020 Parents and Grandparents Program builds on the government’s initiatives to prioritize the approval of 49,000 family sponsorship applications by December 31, 2020, as well as last week’s announcement of a process to reunite more families and approve compassionate cases within the current border restrictions.
A maximum of 10,000 applications will be accepted for processing as part of the 2020 intake. In 2021, IRCC will open a new intake of interest to sponsor forms to accept a total of 30,000 new applications.
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