OTTAWA, Canada (Diya TV) — Canada has stopped accepting new applications through its Parents and Grandparents Program, preventing Canadian citizens and permanent residents from beginning new sponsorship cases until further notice.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced the pause on July 15. The department will not accept new interest-to-sponsor forms or issue invitations to potential sponsors while the pause remains in effect.
The decision does not cancel applications already submitted. IRCC will continue processing pending cases and plans to approve up to 15,000 parents and grandparents for permanent residence in 2026.
The 15,000 figure refers to the number of people Canada plans to admit, not the number of sponsorship applications it will process. One application may include more than one eligible parent or grandparent.
Canada’s 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan sets a target of 15,000 parent and grandparent admissions in each of the three years. The government established a range of 13,000 to 19,000 annual admissions, allowing IRCC to adjust the total based on processing capacity and other operational factors.
The broader plan calls for 380,000 permanent resident admissions in 2026. Family-based immigration accounts for a target of 84,000 admissions, including 69,000 spouses, partners and children and 15,000 parents and grandparents.
IRCC said demand for the Parents and Grandparents Program continues to exceed the number of available immigration spaces. The department described the pause as a measure to reduce processing times and make outcomes more predictable for families with applications already in the system.
The program allows eligible Canadian citizens, permanent residents and people registered under Canada’s Indian Act to sponsor their parents or grandparents for permanent residence. Sponsors must live in Canada, meet minimum income requirements and agree to financially support the relatives they sponsor.
Access to the program was already limited before the latest announcement. During the 2025 intake, IRCC selected potential sponsors from interest forms submitted in 2020 instead of opening registration to new applicants.
IRCC issued 17,860 invitations in 2025, with the goal of accepting up to 10,000 complete applications. The department said it continued using the 2020 pool because a large number of unselected submissions remained.
As a result, people who became eligible after the 2020 registration period have not had an opportunity to submit a new interest-to-sponsor form. The July announcement confirms that Canada will not open a new registration period until the government issues further instructions.
The pause affects immigrant communities across Canada, including families within the country’s Indian diaspora. Statistics Canada reported that approximately 1.35 million people identified Indian ancestry as one of their ethnic or cultural origins in the 2021 census.
However, IRCC has not released information showing how many pending applicants or potential sponsors are of Indian origin. The pause applies to eligible sponsors of every nationality and background.
Parents and grandparents may still apply for Canada’s super visa. The visa allows eligible relatives of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to remain in Canada for up to five years during each visit and provides multiple entries for up to 10 years.
Super visa holders may also apply for extensions of up to two years while inside Canada. Unlike the Parents and Grandparents Program, the super visa provides temporary visitor status and does not grant permanent residence.
Applicants must meet medical insurance requirements, and their child or grandchild in Canada must meet the program’s income standard. Canada changed the income calculation in March, allowing hosts to qualify based on either of the previous two taxation years. In certain cases, the income of the visiting parent or grandparent may help the family meet the required amount.
The government has not provided a date for reopening the Parents and Grandparents Program. Until IRCC issues another notice, people cannot submit new interest forms or receive invitations to begin new sponsorship applications.
