How can I bring my family to Canada?
To sponsor a member of your family, you must meet the following requirements:
- Be at least 18 years of age and a permanent resident or citizen of Canada.
- If you are a permanent resident of Canada, you must live in Canada.
- You must not be in receipt of any social assistance except for disability.
- You must demonstrate financial ability to support the members of your sponsored family. This varies, depending on the person you sponsor.
To become a sponsor, you must "pledge" financial care for the sponsored persons for a certain period of time. This pledge includes:
- Provide basic needs and financial support for sponsored persons, from the moment they become permanent residents;
- Repay to the state any social assistance received by any of the sponsored family members
The sponsored person must be eligible to come to Canada, pass medical examinations, present police clearance documents and collect biometric data.
To confirm your eligibility as a sponsor and ensure that your process runs smoothly, rely on our team of regulated Immigration Consultants.
Sponsor your spouse, common-law or conjugal partner to immigrate to Canada
You can sponsor your partner to immigrate to Canada with you, regardless of their gender, as long as you are both at least 18 years old and legally married, in a live-in relationship or in a conjugal relationship.
If you are cohabiting, you and your partner must have cohabited for at least 12 consecutive months, without any prolonged period of separation.
You may be able to sponsor your spousal partner if you cannot legally live together in your country for reasons such as: current marital status, sexual orientation or persecution.
To apply, you must gather documentation to prove that your relationship is genuine. In addition, you must provide documents and information about yourself, your spouse and dependent children, if any.
If you are a Canadian citizen living outside Canada, you can apply for sponsorship of your spouse or common-law partner, provided that you plan to return to Canada once the application is approved.
Preparing a complete and well-organised application increases the chances of success and can also result in faster processing.
You can sponsor your children if they are still dependent.
For a child to be considered a dependent family member, he or she must be under the age of 22 and not legally married or in a cohabiting relationship. However, if your son or daughter is 22 or older, he or she can still be considered a dependent if:
- Unable to support themselves financially due to a mental or physical condition;
- She has depended on you for financial support since before the age of 22.
If your dependent children also have dependent children, you can sponsor them to come to Canada.
Please note that it is mandatory that your dependent child continues to meet these requirements until the end of the application process, with the exception of age.
Sponsor other members of your family to immigrate to Canada
If you are a permanent resident or citizen of Canada, you can sponsor your brother, sister, niece, nephew, niece or orphaned grandchild if they meet these requirements:
- Are related to you by blood or adoption.
- They are orphans.
- They are under 18 years of age.
- They are single (not married or in a de facto or conjugal relationship).
However, you are NOT allowed to sponsor such family members if:
- The whereabouts of his parents are unknown.
- They were abandoned by their parents.
- People other than their parents are caring for them while one or both parents are alive.
- Their parents are serving custodial sentences or are legally detained.
Sponsor your parents and grandparents
You can sponsor your parents and grandparents to immigrate to Canada, as long as they are related to you by blood or adoption. In case of divorce or separation, you can sponsor the spouses or common-law partners of your parents and grandparents.
To sponsor this group of family members, you must show that you meet the minimum income requirements for the last three years. You can meet these requirements yourself or you can include your spouse's or partner's income.