Parents and Grandparents’ program 2025: Canada kicks off intake; will send out 17,860 invitations

Applications for the 2025 Parents and Grandparents’ Program are now open (starting July 28, 2025). And, Canada will send out 17,860 invitations over approximately two weeks, with a goal to accept 10,000 complete applications.

The current set of invitations will be sent out to individuals who submitted an interest to sponsor their family members in 2020. Those who did send out documentation to sponsor their parents and grandparents are encouraged to check the email accounts they provided in 2020, including their junk and spam folders.

“Due to the number of forms remaining in the pool of interest to sponsor submissions from 2020, IRCC will send invitations to apply to potential sponsors from that pool instead of opening a new interest to sponsor form,” said Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

Those invited to apply as part of the 2025 intake can submit their applications electronically through the Permanent Residence Portal or the Representative Permanent Residence Portal.

The PGP Program opens once a year. It lets citizens and permanent residents sponsor their parents and grandparents to come to Canada.

In January 2025, Canada had paused parents’ and grandparents’ permanent resident visa applications, but a couple of months later, it decided to go back on its decision to not accept any applications this year. However, instead of accepting new applications, IRCC announced it will accept approximately 10,000 existing ones through a randomized draw, the same approach for the intakes organized from 2020 to 2024.

Know more about parents’ and grandparents’ visas and how you can bring family to Canada.

Super Visa — an alternative to the Parents and Grandparents’ Program

If you aren’t invited to apply to sponsor your parents and grandparents, they may be eligible to apply for a super visa, which lets them stay in Canada for five years at a time. Parents and grandparents visiting on a super visa can also apply for 2-year extensions to their stay while they’re still in Canada.