Family Class Sponsorship
Family reunification is one of the three pillars of Canadian immigration program, which permits both the recent immigrants and long-established Canadians to be reunited with members of their family. If you are a Permanent Residence or citizen of Canada, then you may sponsor:
- Your Spouse
- Common-law partner
- Conjugal partner
- Dependent child
- Adopted child
- Parents and grandparents
Who is eligible to sponsor their spouse, partner or child
- You can sponsor your spouse, partner or dependent child if:
- You’re at least 18 years old
- You’re a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act
- If you’re a Canadian citizen living outside Canada, you must show that you plan to live in Canada when the persons you want to sponsor become permanent residents.
- You can’t sponsor someone if you’re a permanent resident living outside Canada.
- You’re able to prove that you’re not receiving social assistance for reasons other than a disability
- You can provide for the basic needs of any persons you want to sponsor
If you live outside Quebec
- To become a sponsor, you must promise to financially take care of the persons you are sponsoring for a period of time. We call this promise an undertaking.
- The undertaking commits you to:
- Providing financial support for your sponsored family members, starting when they become permanent residents repaying any provincial social assistanceyour sponsored family members get during that time
- Also, you and your sponsored family members need to agree to certain responsibilities during the undertaking period. This is called the sponsorship agreement.
- The sponsorship agreement means that you’ll provide for the basic needs of your sponsored family members and the person you sponsor will make every effort to support themselves and their family members