Canada validated 85,179 immigration files in 2018. 67,153 of those were admitted under the sponsorship program as spouses, partners or children, and 18,026 were admitted into the parents or grandparent’s category.

The IRCC constant and continuous efforts to shorten processing times and better manage pending applications accelerated family reunification in 2018. The backlog of applications for parents and grandparents has grown from 167,000 people in 2011 to 25,800 people in 2018, which represents a decrease of 84% 24.  Similarly, the processing time for the sponsorship of parents and grandparents has been considerably reduced as new applications can now be processed within a period of 20 to 24 months.