Family Sponsorship

Sponsor Your Family Members

If you have a family member who wants to immigrate to Canada and you are a citizen/permanent resident of Canada, then you have the opportunity to bring them through the Canada Family Sponsorship Program. In this program, you can become their sponsor and make their immigration application much easier.

Although, the sponsor and the family members who live outside Canada must meet certain requirements in order to qualify for Canada’s Family Sponsorship Program. You may sponsor

So, how do you become a sponsor of your family members?

Sponsor Your Family Members

If you can meet the following criteria, then you are eligible to become a sponsor-

You are an adult or 18+ of age
You hold a Permanent Residence or Canadian Citizenship
You have sufficient income to provide for the family members you are sponsoring
Other than for a disability, you are not receiving social assistance
You don’t have any criminal history
You don’t have any unpaid Immigration loan, Performance Bond, or Mandated Family Support payments such as Child Support, Alimony, etc.
You haven’t sponsored yourself by another spouse/partner in the past five years
You don’t have remaining Spouse/Partner Financial Obligations in the past

Spouse

You are allowed to sponsor your spouse if-

Common-law partner

You can sponsor your common-law partner if-

He/she is 18 or over
You two have been living together for a minimum of 12 consecutive months
You can prove your common-law relationship by showing shared properties, rental agreements, utility bills together, etc.
You have the same address in the important documents

Dependent Children

You can sponsor your own child or the child of a spouse/partner if-

Please keep in your mind that if you are only sponsoring your child, not your spouse/partner, then you will have to prove that the other parent has no obligations and your child is the principal applicant here. If you are sponsoring both your spouse and child, then your spouse will be the principal applicant there.

Parents/Grandparents

You can sponsor your-

Sponsorship for other relatives

Other than spouse/partner or parents/grandparents, you can also sponsor some of your relatives, such as-

How to Apply?

In order to sponsor a parent/grandparent, you need to submit the Interest to Sponsor Form first and then be invited to apply. After that, you can apply as usual within 60days.

If you are applying for any other relative, you need to submit the Interest to Sponsor Form first.

The usual application is divided into two parts-

You need to submit both of these documents at the same time. You will also need to pay the required fees.

The requirements for the sponsor are contained in Regulation 133 of the IRPR and these include not being subject
to a removal order, not being detained in a penitentiary, not having certain convictions, and not being an
undischarged bankrupt. If both the sponsor and the applicant are in Canada, you can submit an “In Canada”
sponsorship while the applicant lives outside of Canada, the application is sent to the responsible Visa Office. The
responsible officer will need to be satisfied that everything is true and trustworthy.

Sponsor Your Family Members