On Monday, October 5, 2020, the Immigration Minister of Canada, Marco E. L. Mendicino, announced the re-implementation of a plan-of-action called the Parents and Grandparents (PGP) Program to reunite people living abroad with their loved ones in Canada. The program is being reintroduced by the Canadian Government after being suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 

Permanent Canadian residents will have the opportunity to submit an interest to sponsor form for their parents or grandparents to come to Canada for permanent residency beginning on October 13, 2020. After the three week application period is over, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will invite the randomly chosen applicants to submit a request to take part in the parent grandparent sponsorship program. 

This year, the applicants for the parent grandparent sponsorship program will be chosen at random. In a statement to CBC News, Mendicino said, “We think this is the fairest way in which to administer the intake and to invite expressions of interest”. 

The people selected for the parent grandparent sponsorship program will have 60 days to complete and submit their forms. Usually, 20,000 people are eligible for the program but due to COVID-19, only 10,000 applicants will be selected this year and 30,000 next year. 

“We know that last year there was a high demand and there were some individuals who were disadvantaged by the intake process, so we wanted to create a level playing field as much as possible,” Mendicino told CBC News on Monday. 

The controversial lottery-based system replaced an online first come, first served application system that some applicants felt was unfair due to some people being unable to access a computer or complete the forms quickly enough. 

In 2018, the government scrapped an in-person first come, first served application process that led to the applicants of the parent grandparent sponsorship program rushing to service centers in January and standing in line for hours. The IRCC replaced this first come, first served application process with the lottery-based system they will be using in 2020 and 2021. 

This Is How the Application Process for the Parent Grandparent Sponsorship Program Will Work:

1. Applicants will find the form for the program available on the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) website as of 12 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on October 13, 2020, until 12 p.m. EST on November 3, 2020. It will be visible for a total of three weeks.
   
   At this time, the applicant will express their interest in sponsoring their parent or grandparent for the program by submitting the online interest form.
   
   There are alternatives available for people with disabilities in paper copy or in Braille, you can request these forms by contacting the IRCC Client Support Centre at 1-888-242-2100 or by email until November 3, 2020.
   
   The selected participants will be chosen randomly to ensure equal opportunities for all applicants.
   
   
2. When the 3 weeks are completed, eligible sponsors are sent an invitation to apply for sponsorship. There will be an initial round of invitations sent to the eligible participants to apply for the parent grandparent sponsorship program in 2020. An allotted amount of 10,000 applications will be accepted for processing. All submissions will be reviewed by the IRCC and any duplicate entries will be removed.
   
   
3. The potential applicants will be asked to submit their forms before 60 days. If there is a potential interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an extension of 90 days will be given to applicants of the parent grandparent sponsorship program.
   

This sponsorship program will reunite Canadian families with their loved ones during this difficult time.

In a tweet released by the Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, he calls the program a pathway to the reunification of Canadian families during a difficult time. 

While the lottery selection process is daunting to some, the opportunity the Government of Canada is giving its residents to reunite with their loved ones through the parent grandparent sponsorship program is priceless. 

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