Family Sponsorships
Family Sponsorship, allows your family members to immigrate to Canada and get permanent residence (PR), provided you as a Sponsor, make a commitment to provide for basic needs and to support that person financially. To sponsor a family member, you are required to meet several requirements such as being:
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a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada
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18 years of age or older
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able to support the sponsored person for several years
You can Sponsor
Spouse and common law partner
Dependent children
Parents or Grandparents
It may be possible to sponsor a non-immediate family member (for example, a sister, niece, or uncle) if:
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you do not have any other immediate family members you could sponsor, or
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you have legally adopted them, and they meet the definition of a dependent child.
As a sponsor, you are required to sign and get into a Sponsorship Agreement (a commitment by you to provide financial support for the basic needs, such as food, clothing, shelter, and health needs not covered by public health services) with your sponsored family member.
For some types of sponsorships, you will also have to meet or exceed the Low income cut-off (LICO).
If you reside in Quebec, you will have to meet Quebec sponsorship requirements and your income will be assessed by the Quebec immigration ministry.
The undertaking (agreement) will stay in effect for a period of time based on the family member you are sponsoring and will not be cancelled even if circumstances change (i.e. if the person you are sponsoring becomes a Canadian citizen, if you divorce or separate, if you have financial problems).
For spouse and common law partner, and a dependent child 22 years of age or older- the undertaking is for 3 years
For dependent children - 10 years, or until age 25, whichever comes first
For other relatives- 10 years and
For parents and grandparents- 20 years
The undertaking requirements for Quebec are slightly different (except for spouse and common law partner, and for other relatives, which is same as above). For Dependent child under 16 years of age, its 10 years and for Dependent child 16 years of age or older, its 3 years (or until age 25), whichever is longer.
