تیم One Way Ticket
Almost any country will admit your spouse and minor children — that is the core of the right to family life. Parents are a different matter: most states see them not as "family" but as a potential burden on healthcare and welfare systems. Workable routes nonetheless exist in each of the three big destinations — the US, Canada and the EU. Here they are, ranked by realism.
The US: the IR-5 green card — the most direct path
If you are a US citizen aged 21 or over, your parents fall into the immediate relatives category — exempt from annual quotas and multi-year backlogs. The average process takes 12–18 months. Green card holders cannot use this route: only citizens may sponsor parents.
- •Form I-130 petition: $675 on paper or $625 online — filed separately for each parent
- •Consular processing: the DS-260 application ($325) plus a medical exam with an accredited physician
- •Affidavit of Support I-864: sponsor income of at least 125% of the federal poverty guidelines for the household size
- •If the parent is already in the US on a visa, adjustment of status via I-485 is possible without leaving
- •Parents can apply for citizenship after 5 years of permanent residence
Canada: the PGP lottery and the Super Visa fallback
Canada's Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) grants parents full permanent residence, but getting in is hard: in 2025 IRCC is accepting just 10,000 applications, with invitations going only to those who filed an interest-to-sponsor form back in 2020. The sponsor must show income above the minimum necessary level (MNI + 30%) for three consecutive tax years.
That makes the Super Visa the main practical tool: a multiple-entry visa valid up to 10 years, letting parents stay in Canada for up to 5 years per entry, extendable by another 2. You need an invitation from the child, proof of their income, and medical insurance with at least CAD 100,000 of coverage — which, since 2025, can also be bought from approved foreign insurers, cutting the cost considerably.
The EU: it all depends on the country and the sponsor's status
The EU Family Reunification Directive guarantees relocation only for spouses and minor children. Parents are left to each member state's discretion — and the spread is enormous.
- •Spain: parents over 65 who are financially dependent on the sponsor; the sponsor must have lived in Spain for 5 years and hold larga duración residency (with some easing under the new 2025 regulation)
- •Portugal: among the most lenient — accepts dependent parents with no hard age threshold, and their citizenship clock starts on day one
- •Italy: parents over 65, provided no other children in the home country can support them
- •Germany: effectively closed — only "exceptional hardship" (außergewöhnliche Härte), such as care needs that cannot be met at home
- •France: no dedicated category; the realistic path is the long-stay visiteur visa with proof of income and housing
💡 The "two-step" strategy: when direct sponsorship is unavailable, parents can often relocate on their own independent status — a financially independent person visa (Spain's NLV from €28,800/year of passive income, Portugal's D7 from €10,440/year). Formally it is not reunification, but the family ends up in one country — and after 5 years the parents hold their own permanent residency.
What to prepare in advance — in any country
- •Birth certificates with apostille and sworn translation — proof of kinship number one
- •Evidence of financial dependence: regular transfers (at least 12 months of history), payments for medical care and housing
- •Medical insurance with coverage matching the country's requirements
- •Proof of housing of sufficient size — a formal requirement in most EU states
- •The sponsor's financials: 1–3 years of tax returns and income statements
«Reuniting with your parents is a marathon of documents proving the obvious — that they are your family. The winner is the one who started gathering evidence a year before filing, not a week.»
The optimal route depends on your status, your income and your parents' age. In a consultation we map every available option — from direct sponsorship to two-step schemes via independent visas.