Canadian Family Sponsorship

Certain of your relatives can live, study and work in Canada if they become permanent residents of Canada. You can sponsor certain relatives to come to Canada if you’re at least 18 years old and a:

• Canadian citizen or,
• person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act or,
• Permanent resident of Canada. 

If you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, age 18 or over, you can sponsor certain family members to become Canadian permanent residents. If you sponsor a relative to come to Canada as a permanent resident, you are responsible for supporting your relative financially when he or she arrives.

Once your PR  application has been received by the IRCC , you will receive an Acknowledgment of Receipt (AOR), which serves as a confirmation that your application file has been created. An “AOR date” is referred to as the date from when your 6 months intended processing time begins.

To be a sponsor:

• You must be 18 years of age or older.
• You and the sponsored relative must sign a sponsorship agreement that commits you to provide financial support for your relative, if necessary. This agreement also says the person becoming a permanent resident will make every effort to support her or himself.
• You must provide financial support for a spouse, common-law or conjugal partner for three years from the date they become a permanent resident.
• You must provide financial support for a dependent child for 10 years, or until the child turns 25, whichever comes first.

You can sponsor:

• Spouse – Outside, Inland, Same-Sex
• Common Law partner – (restrictions apply)
• Conjugal partner – (restrictions apply)
• Dependent children
• parents – (Additional conditions apply)
• grandparents – (Additional conditions apply)
• brothers or sisters, nephews or nieces, granddaughters or grandsons who are orphaned, under 18 years of age and not married or in a common-law relationship
• another relative of any age or relationship but only under specific conditions
• accompanying relatives of the above (for example, spouse, partner and dependent children).

A subsection of the Family Class immigration category is the Spousal Sponsorship program. Under this program, a Canadian citizen or Permanent resident may sponsor a spouse or common-law partner for Canadian permanent residence. Both the Canadian citizen or permanent resident (also called the ‘sponsor’) and the foreign national (the ‘sponsored person’) must be approved by IRCC in order for the sponsored person to receive a visa. Eligibility requirements under this immigration program shows that the sponsor and sponsored person must prove that their relationship qualifies under one of three categories: Spouse, Common-law Partner, Conjugal Partner. Canada also recognizes same-sex couples under their eligibility criteria for spousal sponsorship. Inland sponsorship is when the couple is together in Canada and the foreign spouse/common-law partner has temporary status in Canada, either as a worker, student, or visitor. An Outland application is generally pursued when the sponsored partner is living outside of Canada.

Dependent children, both natural and adopted, may be sponsored to live with their parent(s) as Permanent residents in Canada. The child sponsorship program is a subsection of the Family Class of immigration. To receive a visa through this immigration program, a relationship must be established between the sponsor and the sponsored person.  Adoption proceedings in the final phases of processing, give right to individuals to begin sponsoring their child before the adoption has been finalized.