PGP is the Parents and Grandparents Program, used to apply to sponsor your parents and grandparents for Canadian immigration. The applicant has to prove that he has made enough funds to meet the income requirements.
The income requirement for PGP varies from the applicant depending upon the size of the family, the number of people sponsored, and whether you are sponsoring your family members in Quebec or any other Canadian province.
How to count the family members?
The size of the family is based on who you and your sponsor are currently supporting in Canada, and who you are planning to sponsor.
IRCC wants proof that the applicant has enough money to support himself as well as his family. The number of people in your family for PGP includes:
- yourself,
- your spouse, or common-law partner,
- your dependent children,
- your spouse or partner’s dependent children,
- any other person you previously sponsored in the past for whom you are still financially responsible,
- the parents and grandparents you want to sponsor, and
- your parents and grandparents spouse, partner, and the dependent children even if they are not coming to Canada with them.
In the PGP program, the applicant can only sponsor his parents or grandparents and any dependent children they have. If their children are above the age of 22 or otherwise not considered “dependent,” they will have to apply for Canadian immigration under another program.
Minimum necessary Income for PGP sponsorship outside Quebec
IRCC checks out the income of the applicant for three consecutive taxation years before you apply. Like for this year, your income from 2018, 2019, 2020 would be seen.
The Minimum Necessary Income applies to you, the sponsor, not your parents and grandparents. If the applicant does not meet the income requirements, he can include his spouse or common-law partner as a co-signer to help meet the requirements of the undertaking.
For each year, MNI is calculated based on IRCC’s Low Income Cut-Off figures plus 30%. During the pandemic, the MNI for 2020 that many Canadian faced are:
| Size of Family Unit | MNI 2020 | MNI 2019 | MNI 2018 |
| 2 Persons | $32,270 | $41,007 | $40,397 |
| 3 Persons | $39,672 | $50,414 | $49,641 |
| 4 Persons | $48,167 | $61,209 | $60,271 |
| 5 Persons | $54,630 | $69,423 | $68,358 |
| 6 Persons | $61,613 | $78,296 | $77,095 |
| 7 Persons | $68,595 | $87,172 | $85,835 |
| Each Additional Person | $6,958 | $8,876 | $8,740 |
If the family added or lost a member within these three consecutive years, then MNI will apply to the number of persons in the household for that year. If the applicant and his spouse had their first baby in 2019, then they have to meet the MNI requirements for a family unit of three for 2019 & 2020.
For proving the income for the year, the candidate needs to provide a Notice of Assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency for each of the taxation years.
Income requirements for PGP sponsorship in Quebec
Quebec has its income requirements because of more autonomy over its immigration system compared to other provinces, even if IRCC gets the final say on permanent residency status.
If the sponsorship is from Quebec, the applicant is supposed to be able to financially support his family if he has met the certain income requirement over the previous 12 years. He needs a gross income that is more than or equal to the sum of the tables.
The first table applies to the minimum income required of the sponsor to support their family. So if an individual applying to sponsor his parents for immigration this year he will need to have an annual income of at least $24,602, if it is you and your spouse need $33,209.
For applying PGP 2021, the following amounts are required and to be eligible candidate need to have made the following amounts in the 12 months prior to your application:
| Size of Family Unit | Basic Annual Income Required |
| 1 Person | $24,602 |
| 2 Persons , | $33,209 |
| 3 Persons | $41,001 |
| 4 Persons | $47,156 |
| 5 Persons | $52,482 |
| More than 5 Each persons, for each additional person add | $5,326 |
The second table applies to the relatives that the applicant is sponsoring. To find out the eligibility criteria, you have to add whatever you got in the previous table to the right-side column of the table.
For eg, if someone is applying to sponsor his mother through the PGP, his income requirement will be $24,602 + $17,994 = $42,596.
Additional income required of the sponsor to satisfy the basic needs of the sponsored person and his or her family members
| Number of persons 18 years of age or over | Number of persons under 18 years | Gross annual income required of the sponsor |
| 1 | $8,515 | |
| 2 | $13,496 |
The gross annual income required increases by $4500 for each additional person under 18 years of age
| Number of persons 18 years of age or over | Number of persons under 18 years | Gross annual income required of the sponsor |
| 1 | $17,994 | |
| 1 | 1 | $24,177 |
| 1 | 2 | $27,300 |
The gross annual income required increases by $3,121 for each additional person under 18 years of age
| Number of persons 18 years of age or over | Number of persons under 18 years | Gross annual income required of the sponsor |
| 2 | $26,388 | |
| 2 | 1 | $29,560 |
| 2 | 2 | $31,912 |
The gross annual income required increases by $2,342 for each additional person under 18 years of age and by $8,389 for each additional person 18 years of age or over.
Rules about Co-signers
If the applicant faces trouble in meeting the income requirements, he may list his spouse or common-law partner as a co-signer. Common-law partners will then have to submit a form to confirm common-law status along with the PGP application.
After that, IRCC will check the income status of the co-signer. If they are from outside Quebec, income for the past 3 years will be checked, and if they are Quebec residents then for the past 12 months.
The co-signer should also meet all the eligibility criteria like the applicant and should agree to financially take care of sponsored people for a period of time. They must be living in Canada as a Canadian citizen, PR, or a person with Indian status, and should be at least 18 years of age.
If in case, applicant falls short of financial obligation, he and the co-signer will be held equally liable.
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