Family Sponsorship Update — May 11, 2026
Monday, May 11, 2026
The 2025 Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) intake is now closed; 17,860 invitations were sent to people who submitted interest-to-sponsor forms in 2020, with a target of 10,000 complete applications. Details on the next intake have not yet been announced.
As of February 2026, processing times for family sponsorship applications — including the PGP — were declining, according to IRCC's monthly processing time update.
Spousal sponsorship processing times showed improvement in March 2026 for applications filed inside Canada, though family-class delays were described as 'lingering' compared to the faster PR card processing gains.
What You Should Do
- If you submitted an interest-to-sponsor form for the Parents and Grandparents Program but were not invited for the 2025 intake, monitor canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship/sponsor-parents-grandparents.html and IRCC's social media channels for details on the next intake, which have not yet been announced.
- If your parents or grandparents were not invited under the PGP, consider the Super Visa as an alternative — it allows stays of up to 5 years at a time and 2-year extensions. Check eligibility at canada.ca under the PGP page.
- If you are sponsoring a spouse or partner, check current processing times at ircc.canada.ca/english/information/times/index.asp — times have been improving as of early 2026, but spousal sponsorships filed inside Canada and involving Quebec still showed delays as of March 2026.
Sources
Topics Covered
Spousal Sponsorship Processing Improvements: Spousal sponsorship processing times showed improvement in early 2026, with IRCC attributing gains to a 2024-25 hiring surge and greater use of analytics. However, in-Canada spousal sponsorships — particularly those involving Quebec — still lagged behind other categories as of March 2026.
Parents and Grandparents Program Regional Disparities: The 2025 PGP intake closed October 9, 2025, drawing only from the 2020 interest-to-sponsor pool with 17,860 invitations and a 10,000-application target. No next intake date has been announced as of May 2026.
More Family Sponsorship Updates
Family Sponsorship Update — June 11, 2026
Jun 11, 2026
Family Sponsorship Update — June 8, 2026
Jun 8, 2026
Family Sponsorship Update — June 4, 2026
Jun 4, 2026
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