Family Sponsorship
If you would like to sponsor your spouse or child, we can help. Canadian citizens and permanent residents can sponsor their spouse (including common-law or conjugal partner), or dependent child to immigrate to Canada as a permanent resident.
*Both the sponsor and the sponsored person must meet certain requirements to qualify.
Who can sponsor for Permanent Residency (PR) in Canada?
Canadian citizens or Permanent Residents can sponsor their spouse or dependent children. Temporary residents, including individuals with applications for Permanent Residence are not eligible to sponsor their family members. Individuals who received Permanent Residence a a result of being sponsored by their spouse or partner are only eligible to sponsor if they become a PR holder of at least 5 years.
Undertaking and Sponsorship Agreement
As part of the sponsorship application, sponsors must include a signed undertaking and a sponsorship agreement. The undertaking commits the sponsor to provide financial support for the basic needs of the individual being sponsored for a period of time. This period of time varies depending on the age of the individual sponsored, their relationship to the sponsor and their place of settlement in Canada.
For instance, sponsorship undertaking for a spouse is 3 years, for a child could be up to 10 years. Sponsors are also committing to repay any provincial social assistance received by the sponsored family member during the period of time of the undertaking. The undertaking is binding regardless of a change in the sponsor’s situation or in their relationship with the applicant.
Sponsors have several specific requirements that must be met. These include:
Sponsors must be 18 years of age or older, cannot be subject to a removal order, or be in prison, and cannot be in receipt of social assistance.
Sponsors must also have no outstanding sponsorship undertakings, immigration or court order debts, or undischarged bankruptcies.
Individuals who were convicted of attempting, threatening to commit or committing a violent offence, or any offence against a family member, or of any sexual offence (either inside or outside of Canada) may not be eligible to act as a sponsor.
Canadian citizens can sponsor while residing outside of Canada, while permanent residents must reside in Canada.
Who can apply as a sponsored person?
Spouses and partners who apply for permanent residence as a member of the family class must be at least 18 years of age and must not be inadmissible to Canada.
Additionally, there are three requirements:
Spouses must be legally married to the sponsor.
Common law partners must have been living with the sponsor for at least 12 consecutive months in a marriage-like relationship.
Conjugal partners must have been in a relationship with the sponsor for at least 1 year and must be unable to either live with or marry their sponsor because of significant legal and immigration reasons (ie: where same sex relationships are illegal, conjugal partners would be unable to marry or live together).
In the case of a dependent child, a son or daughter is considered ‘dependent’ if they are under the age of 22 and do not have a spouse or common law partner. Children over the age of 22 may still qualify as dependants if they are financially dependent on a parent due to a physical or mental condition, and they have depended on their parents for financial support since before the age of 22. The children must be related to the sponsor by blood or adopted.
All applicants and their dependants must go through medical, criminal screening, including the dependants who are not immigrating to Canada.
For more information, call us or write to us.