Canada’s Parent-Grandparent Sponsorship Crisis: Years of Delays and Growing Backlogs (Part 1)

For Canadian families, reuniting with aging parents has become a lottery with dwindling odds—and the government keeps changing the game.

Introduction
Canada’s Parent-Grandparent Sponsorship Program (PGP), once a beacon of family reunification, has stalled since 2020. With Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recycling a frozen applicant pool and annual caps leaving thousands in limbo, frustration among families is reaching a boiling point.

1. A Program Frozen in Time

In late 2020, IRCC opened a three-week window for sponsorship interest forms, drawing 203,000 submissions (Source). Since then, the program has relied exclusively on this aging pool. Annual invitation caps swing unpredictably:

• 2021: 30,000 invites (record high).
• 2022–2023: Roughly 15,000 invites yearly.
• 2024: 35,700 invites issued, targeting 20,500 approvals.
  Despite promises to reopen, IRCC confirmed in 2024 that no new applications will be accepted until at least 2025, locking out families who immigrated post-2020.

2. The Lottery Limbo

Even for those in the 2020 pool, success is a long shot:

• 2023 Admissions: 28,280 parents/grandparents approved—barely denting demand (Source).
• Processing Delays: Applications take 24–48 months post-invitation, with Quebec cases slowed by provincial red tape.
  “My parents are in their 70s. By the time we’re processed, they might not even be able to travel,” says a Montreal-based sponsor.

3. Backlogs and Broken Promises

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the processing of sponsorship applications in 2020, but IRCC’s continued reliance on the same applicant pool without reopening intake has worsened the backlog. While officials cite the need to “balance immigration targets,” critics argue that family reunification has been consistently deprioritized. As a result, many families face indefinite delays. The issues predate the pandemic: during the 2019 intake, Canada shut the door on parent and grandparent sponsorships “after a mere 10 minutes,” leaving thousands of applicants locked out of the process (Asian Pacific Post, 2019).

Conclusion
IRCC’s focus on backlog clearance ignores new applicants, leaving thousands stranded. Part 2 delves into the emotional toll and growing calls for reform.

Engage with Bready
Impacted by PGP delays? Share your story on LinkedIn or tag #Reunify Canada to amplify the call for change.
Signature: Bready Wu | Kitsilano Home Expert | LinkedIn Profile

Tags: #WBN News Kitsilano #Bready Wu #Kitsilano #Family Reunification #Canadian Immigration #IRCC