Update January 14, 2019: On Friday, IRCC announced that the online Interest to Sponsor Form will open on January 28th at noon EST (9:00 am PST). Information on how to prepare before the Interest to Sponsor system opens can be found at IRCC’s updated website. Don’t forget, the online system is first come, first served, so make sure to be ready to fill out your form on January 28th at noon EST (9:00 am PST)!

Frequently Asked Questions: How do I sponsor my parents or grandparents to come to Canada? When can I submit an application?

It would take a much longer article to explain all of the rules and steps in sponsoring your parents or grandparents to immigrate to Canada but one of the first important parts of the process to know is that before you can submit your full application, you have to first receive an invitation from the Canadian government to sponsor your parent or grandparent. But how do you receive an invitation from the Canadian government? Good question! Over the last few years, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been frequently changing its application process for sponsoring parents and grandparents. In August 2018, IRCC announced it was changing the system again. IRCC announced that it would be using a first come, first served online system where people could submit an online “Interest to Sponsor” form and the first 20,000 people to submit their Interest to Sponsor form online will receive an invitation to submit a full sponsorship application. This is different from the past year, where people who submitted an Interest to Sponsor Form were randomly selected in a lottery system to submit their sponsorship application. If you want to be one of the first 20,000 people to submit an Interest to Sponsor Form and receive the invitation to apply, when does the online system open? IRCC has not announced a date yet, but Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussein did say “at the beginning of the year”. This would be similar to previous years, where applications would start to be accepted in January and would stop being accepted sometime in February. To stay the most up to date on when the online Interest to Sponsor Form website will open, I would suggest checking these Government of Canada websites on a weekly, if not daily basis, to see if a date has been announced yet: IRCC’s Newsroom (lists news releases, speeches, and media information from Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada) IRCC’s page on Sponsoring Parents or Grandparents about Interest to Sponsor Form (currently has 2018 information and has not been updated yet) In addition to making sure you submit your Interest to Sponsor Form early enough to get an invitation to apply to sponsor your parents or grandparents, there are several other important rules and restrictions to know about planning to apply to the Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship program. We would be happy to set up an initial consultation to go over some of the other important considerations when it comes to sponsoring a parent or grandparent to come to Canada. Information on this blog is not immigration advice and is for informational uses only. To get specialized immigration advice on your situation and unique circumstances, you should contact a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) or Immigration Lawyer.