The Canadian Government resumed intake of the Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship applications on January 2, 2014, after a pause of 24 months, with amended regulations to achieve the objective of reducing wait times and avoid future backlogs. In 2014, 5,000 applications will be accepted under the new program.  The Canadian sponsors are now subjected to new requirements to be eligible to sponsor their parents or grandparent as follows: The sponsorship agreement period has been increased to 20 years from 10 years. As such, the sponsor must commit to provide for the basic needs of their parents/grandparents for a period of 20 years. The minimum necessary income required to establish financial sufficiency of the sponsor has been increased by 30%. The Minimum necessary income + 30% required is calculated based on the number of persons the sponsor is already supporting and would be supporting. The minimum necessary income (MNI) of the sponsor and co-signer (if applicable) h...