Question Period Note: PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS INTAKE PROCESS

The Covid-19 pandemic is delaying the opening of the program. When will the program launch?

• Due to the current focus on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have delayed the opening of the 2020 program to accept new applications.
• The Government of Canada remains strongly committed to family reunification, and IRCC will continue to monitor the pandemic in its planning for the opening of the program in 2020.
• More information on PGP 2020 will come as soon as possible, and updates will be posted online and on social media well in advance, to allow potential sponsors enough time to prepare their information.

The Government of Canada sets the number of permanent residents to be admitted within each immigration category each year, which in turn determines how many applications can be processed. Family Class levels – like those in any category – cannot be unlimited as the system must meet economic and refugee objectives as well. The 2020-2022 levels plan set the target at 21,000 parent and grandparent admissions for each year (2020, 2021 and 2022). This is a modest increase from the target of 20,500 in 2019.

• Intake for the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) is managed through an annual cap, which limits the number of complete applications IRCC accepts for processing each year. This cap is set using Ministerial Instructions under the authority found in section 87.3 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The annual cap of complete applications to be accepted by the Department was set at 17,000 for 2018, and has increased to 20,000 complete applications for 2019 as set out in the Ministerial Instructions which came into force on January 1, 2019.

• The Ministerial Instructions also authorized changes to the intake system for 2019 which were announced by the Minister in August 2018. The changes included the move to a first-in intake process, which replaced the random selection intake process used in 2017 and 2018, in order to address public concerns regarding fairness. Previously, from 2014-2016, IRCC accepted complete applications on a first-in basis, prompting some applicants to pay high courier fees in an attempt to ensure their application was received under the cap.

• The first-in intake system opened on January 28th, 2019 at 12pm EST. Potential sponsors were required to let the Department know they wish to sponsor their parents and grandparents by submitting an Interest to Sponsor form online along with a copy of document proving their status in Canada. Over 100,000 people accessed the Interest to Sponsor form; a maximum of 27,000 interest to sponsor forms were accepted on a first-in basis. However, rather than randomly selecting potential sponsors to apply, as was done in 2017 and 2018, the Department invited potential sponsors to submit an application to sponsor their parents and grandparents based on the order in which their Interest to Sponsor form was received. Invited potential sponsors had 60 days from the date of their invitation to submit their sponsorship application to IRCC.

• Demand for the Parents and Grandparents sponsorship program remains high. For intake year 2017, after the removal of duplicates, over 95,000 individuals indicated an interest in sponsoring their parents and grandparents. In an effort to ensure 10,000 complete applications were received, the Department sent 16,500 invitations to potential sponsors inviting them to submit a complete application to sponsor their parents and grandparents. A total of 9,520 applications were received from two rounds of invitations, of which 9,030 were complete and accepted for processing.

• For intake year 2018, after the removal of duplicates, the Department received over 93,000 interest to sponsor forms. In an effort to ensure 17,000 complete applications were received, the Department sent 23,500 invitations to potential sponsors inviting them to submit a complete application to sponsor their parents and grandparents. The Department received sufficient applications to meet the 17,000 application cap.

• For intake year 2019, we will be able to share the total number of complete applications received through this intake round in the coming months.

Temporary Ministerial Instructions came into force on January 1, 2020, to allow IRCC time to prepare for the opening of the 2020 intake process. This means that no new interest to sponsor forms will be accepted until the new intake process is launched. Plans to open intake in April 2020 were postponed to allow the Department and potential sponsors to focus on responding to the COVID-19 crisis. A second set of Ministerial Instructions authorizing the 2020 intake process will be published once the Department is ready to open the program.

Inventory
• As of February 2020, the PGP inventory is approximately 39,000 persons. This is a significant reduction from the 167,000 persons in the inventory in December 2011.
• Due to Departmental efforts over the past seven years, the inventory has now been reduced to a level that is sufficient to support target admissions in the 2019-2021 Multi-Year Levels Plan (MYLP). So long as planned intake and output of applications remain aligned, no further inventory reduction will be necessary.
• Large inventories are not expected to accumulate in the future, as long as the annual cap on new applications continues to be consistent with the levels space.

Parents and Grandparent Historical Inventory of Applications (in persons)
Parents and Grandparents 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020
Total 167,000 125,600 86,000 72,000 50,700 41,500 32,200 32,400 39,000 39,000
- Since November 2011, IRCC has implemented new processing procedures whereby sponsors are requested to submit the applicant’s IMM8s to CPC-M. This facilitates faster and more efficient assessment; GCMS file creation and transfer of cases to overseas offices. This ensures that the missions have sufficient inventory to meet visa targets.
Source: IRCC, MBR as of November 1, 2019

Parents and Grandparents Admissions (in Persons): 2011- February 2020
Parents and Grandparents 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 (Jan-Feb)
Admissions 14,093 21,810 32,321 18,206 15,491 17,045 20,494 18,030 22,012 2,817

Source: IRCC, MBR as of November 1, 2019, 2019

Processing Times
• In order to address high processing times and growing inventories, the Department implemented an Action Plan that placed a 2-year moratorium on intake, followed by an intake cap. As a result, processing times have decreased to 19 months.

Parents and Grandparents Total Processing Times (in months): 2011- February 2020
Parents and Grandparents 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
2019 Mar 2019-Feb 2020
80% of Finalized Cases 39 52 61 69 74 70 72 42 19
19

Source: IRCC, MBR as of November 1, 2019

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