Where this stands
This is the route people most often ask about and the one least available. It is closed to new applications, and the work worth doing now is preparing the income position and looking at the route that is open.
Closed to new applications and to invitations
A ministerial instruction in force from 1 January 2026 provides that no new permanent residence applications by parents or grandparents, and no sponsorship applications relating to them, are to be received for processing until further instructions are issued. It also authorises accepting up to 10,000 applications from the 2025 intake into processing during 2026.
No interest to sponsor form is open. The last intake drew invitations at random from forms submitted in 2020, so there is no queue to join now. The government has said details of the next intake will be shared when they are available, and has given no date.
You still have an option, and it is a good one
The Super Visa is open. It is a multiple entry temporary resident visa for a parent or grandparent that allows a stay of five years on each entry, rather than the six months an ordinary visitor gets, and it can be extended by up to two years at a time from inside Canada. Its income test is the low income cut off rather than that figure plus thirty per cent, and since 31 March 2026 it can be met in either of the two preceding tax years, or at 75 per cent of the threshold topped up by the parent's own income. It requires private medical insurance and does not lead to permanent residence.
You can also apply for it while a sponsorship application is pending, or withdraw a sponsorship and apply instead. Learn more about the Super Visa, including the income figures and the insurance rules.
The income test, and why it needs planning now
The requirement is the low income cut off for your household size plus thirty per cent, met in each of three consecutive tax years and proved by a notice of assessment for each. A closed tax year cannot be improved later, which is why this is the part to work on while the program is shut.
| People in the household | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | $47,549 | $44,530 | $43,082 |
| 3 | $58,456 | $54,743 | $52,965 |
| 4 | $70,972 | $66,466 | $64,306 |
| 5 | $80,496 | $75,384 | $72,935 |
| 6 | $90,784 | $85,020 | $82,259 |
| 7 | $101,075 | $94,658 | $91,582 |
| Each additional person | add $10,291 | add $9,636 | add $9,324 |
These are the figures for applications filed in 2025, which was the last intake. There is no published table for 2026 because there is no 2026 intake, and we do not estimate one. Treat this table as the shape of the test rather than as the figures your own application will face.
- Three consecutive years, each on its own. Not an average. One year below the line defeats the application even if the other two are comfortable.
- Household size is recalculated for each year. So the threshold can differ across the three years, and a co-signer is counted in all three.
- Some income does not count. Provincial training allowances, provincial social assistance, federal resettlement assistance, employment insurance other than special benefits, the guaranteed income supplement and the Canada child benefit are excluded from the calculation.
- An officer can ask for updated income. Where they consider you may no longer be able to meet the undertaking, or where more than twelve months have passed, and the three year window is then re-based on the newer evidence.
- Without three years of tax assessments you do not meet the requirement. The Regulations ask for the notices of assessment or an equivalent document issued by the tax authority, so it is an evidentiary rule as much as a financial one. Consent to disclosure from the tax authority is the usual way it is satisfied.
Are you in a position to be ready
The program is closed, so this is a readiness check rather than an eligibility test. The point is to find out now whether your income position would carry an application, because tax years cannot be fixed retroactively.
Your situation
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