January 2025

On January 4^th, the Canadian government posted new Ministerial Instructions regarding the Parent and Grandparent Program. The program is paused for 2025 until further Instructions are issued.

There will also be processing delays for applications submitted in 2024. IRCC will only process 15,000 applications this year, with the remainder to be processed in the following year(s). 35,700 sponsors were invited to submit applications in 2024. Though the application deadline was August 2, 2024, IRCC has not stated how many sponsors submitted applications. Applications will be processed in the order they were submitted.  For those not processed in 2025, processing times will jump, but by how much will depend on how many applications were submitted, how many applications were returned for being ‘incomplete,’ and how many applications IRCC will process in 2026 and possibly 2027 if there are still applications outstanding at the end of 2026. The current processing time listed on the IRCC website is 24 months, which likely does not reflect the recent announcement. Further, IRCC has not published the number of applications currently backlogged; outstanding applications from 2023 or earlier must also be considered when attempting to predict processing times for 2024 applications. The 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan has a target of 24,500 individuals to be accepted through the Parent and Grandparent Program in 2025.