Significant reduction in income level required for the sponsors under PGP

 

Settling in Canada is the biggest dream of many of us. Apart from this, we will be missing our parents, grandparents and our loved ones too. Sponsoring them to come to Canada through the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) is very economical compared to previous years.

	“Since many sponsors may have been affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic, the income requirement for the 2020 tax year has been reduced to the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30 percent,” notes Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada on its website.

Sponsors should be able to earn $32,899 in 2021 to get qualified to bring two parents or four grandparents to Canada. This is $8,108 less compared to 2019.

As the number in the family goes up the expenses will also increase, so to save the cost IRCC has reduce the fee for PGP.

So, a sponsor who want to bring their two parents and four grandparents to Canada should earn $62,814 which is $15,482 less than the income needed in 2019.

This income also counts Regular Employment Insurance (EI) and Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) towards a sponsor income.

The major reduction in PGP was first initiated by Ottawa, in order to support the vast numbers of Canadians who lost their jobs during the pandemic.

Comparison of income required to become a sponsor under the Parents and Grandparents Program

Number of People Sponsored	2020	2019	2018
2 people	$32,899	$41,007	$40,379
3 people	$40,445	$50,414	$49,641
4 people	$49,106	$61,209	$60,271
5 people	$55,695	$69,423	68,358
6 people	$62,814	$78,296	$77,095
7 people	$69,935	$87,172	$85,835
For each additional person, add	$7,121	$8,876	$8,740

In 2015, the program was launched and aimed to bring 15,490 new permanent residents to Canada. Later the number increased because of the popular province, Ontario, which has a huge share in these new arrivals.

Later in the next four years, the interested candidates towards PGP grew and resulted in  17,040 new permanent residents in 2016, 20,495 in 2017, 18,030 in 2018, and 22,010 newcomers in 2019.

Before the pandemic, the PGP has grown by 42.1 percent, adding 6,520 new permanent residents to the previous year.

Because of the adverse spread of the COVID-19, Canada has closed its borders to non-essential travel and other countries, which resulted in a massive fall in the number. Read More