The Parent And Grandparent Program (PGP) for Canadian immigration is scheduled to reopen on January 4, 2016, at 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Applications received before this date will not be accepted. There will be a cap on the number of applications accepted, though this figure has not yet been disclosed.

The PGP allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to bring their foreign parents and grandparents to Canada as Canadian permanent residents.

The application intake cap for the previous application cycle was 5,000 submitted applications. That application cap was reached within two weeks of the program having reopened on January 2, 2015. Given that many potential applicants have been waiting patiently for the PGP to reopen, it is likely that that the next application cycle will reach its cap.

It is not yet known with certainty whether the 2016 PGP will reopen with the same requirements and cap as the most recent application cycle, like it did in 2015, or if the Canadian government plans on making changes.

For the most recent application cycle, the sponsor in Canada must have met the following requirements:

• Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident;
• Be 18 years of age or older;
• Exceed the minimum necessary income level for this program by submitting notices of assessment issued by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) in support of their sponsorship. Sponsors must also demonstrate they have met the minimum necessary income level for three consecutive years. If married or in a common-law relationship, the income of both persons can be included;
• The sponsor must sign an undertaking to repay any provincial social assistance benefits paid to the sponsor and accompanying family member(s), if any, for a period of 20 years, if necessary. If the sponsor resides in Quebec, an additional ‘undertaking’ must be signed.

Click here to learn more about the Parent and Grandparent Program.