Sponsorship of Parents and Grandparents: An Update
Prepared by: Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic
Current as of: October 15, 2020
pdf: CSALC – Website Write-up re. PGP Sponsorship – Eng
Overview of Application Process
- Check to see if you are eligible to become a sponsor
- Check to see if the person(s) you want to sponsor is/are eligible
- Submit the online interest to sponsor form (open Oct. 13 to Nov. 3, 2020)
- The Government of Canada will randomly select and invite 10,000 potential sponsors to apply
- Selected applicants submit the sponsorship application within 60 days and pay the $1,050 fee
- The Government will decide whether to approve you as a sponsor; if approved, it will assess the eligibility of the person(s) you want to sponsor
- The Government will decide whether to approve your parent(s)’ or grandparent(s)’ application(s) for permanent residence
The entire process will take approximately 20-24 months.
Changes to Financial Eligibility
To be eligible to sponsor a parent or grandparent, you must meet the minimum necessary income (MNI) requirements for each of the last 3 tax years (2018-2020). Normally, the MNI is the Low Income Cut-off (LICO) for that tax year plus 30%.
However, since many people have been financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the MNI requirement for the 2020 tax year has been reduced to the LICO only. However, the financial requirements for the 2018 and 2019 tax years remains at LICO plus 30%.
For details, see the chart below:
| Total number of people you’ll be responsible for (i.e. family size, including yourself) | 2020
(LICO) |
2019
(LICO + 30%) |
2018
(LICO + 30%) |
| 2 people | $32,899 | $41,007 | $40,379 |
| 3 people | $40,445 | $50,414 | $49,641 |
| 4 people | $49,106 | $61,209 | $60,271 |
| 5 people | $55,695 | $69,423 | 68,358 |
| 6 people | $62,814 | $78,296 | $77,095 |
| 7 people | $69,935 | $87,172 | $85,835 |
| If more than 7 people, for each additional person, add: | $7,121 | $8,876 | $8,740 |
*Source: Government of Canada