17,860 Canadian families received final Parents and Grandparents Program invitations on July 28, 2025, marking the end of this immigration pathway
On This Page You Will Find:
- Breaking news about Canada's final PGP lottery invitations for 2025
- Critical deadline information that could affect your family's future
- New income requirements that increased by $3,000 this year
- Alternative visa options when PGP applications close
- Step-by-step guidance for invited sponsors
Summary:
If you've been waiting since 2020 to sponsor your parents or grandparents to Canada, this is your final opportunity. Immigration Canada just sent 17,860 invitations on July 28, 2025, marking the last PGP lottery ever conducted. With only 10,000 applications accepted and a hard deadline of October 9, 2025, invited sponsors face the most critical immigration deadline of their lives. The stakes have never been higher – miss this deadline, and there's no second chance. Here's everything you need to know to secure your family's Canadian dream before the program ends forever.
🔑 Key Takeaways:
- Canada sent final 17,860 PGP invitations on July 28, 2025 - no new applications accepted after 2025
- Only 2020 lottery participants who never received previous invitations are eligible
- Minimum income requirement jumped to $47,549 for 2024 (up $3,000 from previous year)
- Hard deadline: October 9, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET - no exceptions granted
- Super visa remains available for 5-year visits when PGP closes permanently
Maria Santos refreshed her email for the hundredth time that Tuesday morning. After five years of waiting since submitting her Parents and Grandparents Program interest form in 2020, she finally saw it – the invitation that would determine whether her elderly parents in the Philippines could join her permanently in Toronto.
She wasn't alone. On July 28, 2025, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) sent out 17,860 invitations, but here's the shocking part: this marks the absolute final round of PGP invitations ever issued.
The End of an Era: Why 2025 is Your Last Chance
The Canadian government has officially announced that 2025 represents the final year for Parents and Grandparents Program applications. After processing the current batch of invited sponsors, IRCC will permanently close new PGP applications.
What does this mean for your family? If you received an invitation this July, you're holding what might be the most valuable immigration document in Canadian history. If you didn't receive an invitation and weren't part of the 2020 lottery, you'll never have another opportunity to sponsor your parents or grandparents for permanent residence through this program.
The math is sobering: 17,860 families received invitations, but only 10,000 complete applications will be accepted. That's a 44% rejection rate based purely on timing and completeness.
Who Received the Golden Ticket?
The eligibility criteria for 2025 invitations were incredibly specific. You could only receive an invitation if you:
- Submitted a complete interest-to-sponsor form in 2020
- Never received an Invitation to Apply in any previous year (2020-2024)
- Maintained the same email address you used in 2020
Think about that timeline for a moment. People have been waiting five years for this opportunity. Children who were in elementary school when their grandparents applied to visit are now teenagers. Life circumstances have changed dramatically, yet the dream of family reunification remains constant.
The $3,000 Shock: New Income Requirements Hit Hard
Here's where many families will face their biggest challenge. The minimum income requirement jumped to $47,549 for 2024 – that's a $3,000 increase from the previous year. But it gets more complicated.
You need to meet income requirements for three consecutive tax years: 2024, 2023, and 2022. This means if you had a rough patch during the pandemic or changed jobs, you might not qualify despite receiving an invitation.
Let me put this in perspective: a family of four (sponsor, spouse, and two children) sponsoring one parent would need to prove income of approximately $65,000 annually for three straight years. Miss one year, and your application gets rejected.
The October 9 Deadline: No Room for Error
Mark your calendar in red ink: October 9, 2025, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. This isn't a soft deadline where IRCC might show flexibility. This is a hard stop that determines your family's future.
What makes this deadline even more stressful? You're not just submitting one application – you're coordinating two complex applications simultaneously:
- Your sponsorship application (proving you can financially support your parents)
- Your parents' permanent residence application (medical exams, police certificates, photos)
The coordination required is mind-boggling. Your parents might be dealing with government offices in countries where processing times are unpredictable. Medical exams must be current. Police certificates expire. One missing document, and your five-year wait ends in disappointment.
The $1,205 Reality Check
The financial commitment doesn't stop at proving income. Application fees start at $1,205, and that's just the beginning. Add medical exams (typically $300-500 per person), police certificates, translation costs, and potential legal fees, and you're looking at $3,000-5,000 in total costs.
For many families, this represents a significant financial stretch. You're essentially betting thousands of dollars on your ability to compile perfect documentation within 10 weeks.
What Happens After October 9?
Once the PGP closes permanently, your only option for bringing parents and grandparents to Canada will be the Super Visa program. While this allows visits of up to five years at a time, it's not permanent residence. Your parents can't access healthcare, can't work, and can't eventually become Canadian citizens.
The Super Visa requires private health insurance (typically $2,000-4,000 annually) and still has income requirements, though they're lower than PGP requirements. It's a consolation prize, not the family reunification solution most people hoped for.
The Incomplete Application Trap
Here's a nightmare scenario that happens more often than you'd think: you submit your application by October 9, feeling relieved, only to receive a letter 30 days later stating your application is incomplete.
IRCC gives you exactly 30 days to provide missing documents. Not 31 days. Not "approximately 30 days." Exactly 30 days. If you miss this secondary deadline, your application gets returned unprocessed, and you've lost your only chance forever.
Common reasons applications are deemed incomplete:
- Medical exams expired before processing
- Police certificates missing from any country where parents lived 6+ months
- Income documentation doesn't cover all three required years
- Photos don't meet exact specifications
- Forms signed with wrong date or missing signatures
The Emotional Weight of Final Chances
Beyond the paperwork and deadlines lies the emotional reality facing thousands of Canadian families. Adult children who immigrated years ago, built lives, had grandchildren their parents have never met in person, are facing the reality that this might be their only opportunity for family reunification.
The stress is affecting marriages, causing sleepless nights, and forcing families to make difficult financial decisions. Some are borrowing money to meet income requirements or pay for expedited document processing.
Your Action Plan if You Received an Invitation
If you're one of the 17,860 families holding an invitation, here's your survival strategy:
Week 1-2 (Immediate Action Required):
- Download all application forms today
- Start your parents' medical exams immediately (these take longest)
- Order police certificates from every country where your parents lived
- Gather three years of tax returns and employment letters
Week 3-6 (Documentation Phase):
- Complete sponsorship application with meticulous attention to detail
- Help parents complete their permanent residence application
- Get all documents translated by certified translators
- Take new photos meeting exact IRCC specifications
Week 7-9 (Review and Double-Check):
- Have someone else review every form
- Verify all signatures and dates
- Confirm medical exams are still valid
- Prepare payment method for online fee payment
Week 10 (Final Submission):
- Submit applications at least 48 hours before deadline
- Keep confirmation receipts
- Prepare for potential follow-up requests
The Super Visa Alternative: Your Plan B
When PGP closes permanently, the Super Visa becomes your only option. While not ideal, it offers some significant advantages:
- No lottery system – apply anytime
- Faster processing (typically 2-4 months)
- Lower income requirements
- Multiple entry visa valid for 10 years
- Stays of up to 5 years per visit
The trade-offs are significant: no path to permanent residence, no healthcare coverage, and ongoing insurance costs. But for many families, it's better than no option at all.
The Bigger Picture: Why PGP is Ending
Canada's decision to end the PGP reflects broader immigration policy shifts. With housing shortages, healthcare system strain, and pressure to prioritize economic immigrants, family reunification programs face increasing scrutiny.
The government argues that processing 10,000 PGP applications annually while maintaining reasonable processing times has become unsustainable. Each PGP approval represents a long-term commitment to healthcare and social services for elderly immigrants who haven't contributed to Canadian tax systems.
This policy shift signals a fundamental change in how Canada views family immigration. Economic considerations are increasingly outweighing humanitarian ones.
Looking Forward: What This Means for Canadian Immigration
The end of the PGP marks a watershed moment in Canadian immigration history. For decades, family reunification stood alongside economic immigration as a core pillar of Canada's immigration system. That balance is shifting decisively toward economic priorities.
Future immigrants should expect family sponsorship options to become more limited, not more generous. The message is clear: if you want to bring family members to Canada, you need to do it now, not later.
For the 17,860 families holding invitations, this represents both an incredible opportunity and enormous pressure. You're not just completing an immigration application – you're potentially the last generation to benefit from one of Canada's most generous family reunification programs.
The clock is ticking. October 9, 2025, isn't just another deadline – it's the end of an era. Make it count.
FAQ
Q: What exactly is happening with Canada's Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) in 2025?
Canada has officially announced that 2025 marks the final year for the Parents and Grandparents Program. On July 28, 2025, IRCC sent out 17,860 invitations - the last PGP invitations that will ever be issued. Only people who submitted interest-to-sponsor forms in 2020 and never received previous invitations were eligible. After processing this final batch of applications, the program will close permanently, meaning no new PGP applications will be accepted after 2025. Of the 17,860 invited families, only 10,000 complete applications will be processed due to capacity limits. This represents the end of one of Canada's most significant family reunification programs, shifting immigration policy toward economic priorities rather than family sponsorship.
Q: Who was eligible to receive a PGP invitation in 2025, and what if I didn't get one?
To receive a 2025 invitation, you must have submitted a complete interest-to-sponsor form specifically in 2020, never received an invitation in any previous year (2020-2024), and maintained the same email address used in your original 2020 submission. If you submitted your interest form in any other year or already received a previous invitation, you were not eligible for this final round. Unfortunately, if you didn't receive an invitation and weren't part of the 2020 lottery pool, you will never have another opportunity to sponsor your parents or grandparents for permanent residence through the PGP. Your only remaining option will be the Super Visa program, which allows visits of up to five years but doesn't provide permanent residence status.
Q: What are the new income requirements for PGP 2025, and how much have they increased?
The minimum income requirement jumped to $47,549 for 2024 - a significant $3,000 increase from the previous year. However, sponsors must meet income requirements for three consecutive tax years: 2024, 2023, and 2022. The income requirements increase based on family size. For example, a family of four sponsoring one parent would need to prove approximately $65,000 annually for all three years. You must provide tax returns, employment letters, and income documentation covering this entire period. If you experienced job loss, reduced income, or financial difficulties during the pandemic years, you might not qualify despite receiving an invitation. Missing the income requirement for even one of the three years results in automatic application rejection.
Q: What happens after the October 9, 2025 deadline, and what are the consequences of missing it?
The October 9, 2025 deadline at 11:59 PM Eastern Time is absolute - there are no extensions or exceptions granted. Missing this deadline means losing your only chance forever to sponsor your parents or grandparents for permanent residence. After this date, the PGP closes permanently, and your sole option becomes the Super Visa program. The Super Visa allows parents and grandparents to visit Canada for up to five years at a time with a 10-year multiple-entry visa, but it's not permanent residence. They cannot access public healthcare, cannot work in Canada, and have no path to citizenship. Super Visa holders must maintain private health insurance costing $2,000-4,000 annually and meet lower income requirements than PGP, but it's essentially a long-term visitor status rather than family reunification.
Q: How much does the PGP application cost, and what documents are required?
PGP applications start with $1,205 in government fees, but total costs typically reach $3,000-5,000 per family when including medical exams ($300-500 per person), police certificates from every country where parents lived 6+ months, certified translations, photos meeting exact specifications, and potential legal assistance. You must simultaneously coordinate two complex applications: your sponsorship application proving financial ability and your parents' permanent residence application. Critical documents include three years of tax returns, employment letters, medical exams (which expire and must be current), police certificates (which also expire), birth certificates, marriage certificates, and passport-quality photos. The coordination challenge is enormous since your parents may be dealing with government offices in countries with unpredictable processing times while racing against the October deadline.
Q: What should I do immediately if I received a PGP invitation?
Start your parents' medical exams immediately - these take the longest and must be valid when your application is processed. Simultaneously order police certificates from every country where your parents lived for 6+ months, as these can take weeks or months to obtain. Download all application forms and begin gathering three years of tax returns and employment documentation. Create a detailed timeline working backward from October 9 to ensure all components are completed with buffer time. Consider hiring an immigration lawyer if your situation is complex or if you're unsure about any requirements. The key is parallel processing - don't wait for one document before starting others. Many families underestimate the coordination required between Canadian and international document gathering, so starting immediately is crucial for success.
Q: Why is Canada ending the PGP program, and what does this mean for future immigration policy?
Canada is ending the PGP due to several factors: housing shortages, healthcare system strain, and policy shifts prioritizing economic immigrants over family reunification. Each PGP approval represents a long-term commitment to healthcare and social services for elderly immigrants who haven't contributed to Canadian tax systems. The government argues that processing 10,000 applications annually while maintaining reasonable processing times has become unsustainable. This marks a fundamental shift in Canadian immigration policy, moving away from the traditional balance between economic and family immigration toward purely economic priorities. Future immigrants should expect family sponsorship options to become more restrictive, not more generous. This policy change signals that Canada views immigration primarily through an economic lens rather than humanitarian family reunification, representing the most significant shift in family immigration policy in decades.
