Canada is one of the best countries in the world where thousands of Foreigners land every year as Immigrants and amongst those are Spouses, Children, Parents, Grandparents, and Relatives. Your relatives can live, study and work in Canada if they become permanent residents of Canada.
You can sponsor certain relatives to come to Canada if you’re at least 18 years old and a:
– Canadian citizen or
– person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act or
– permanent resident of Canada
If you are one of the 3 above then you can:
- Sponsor your spouse, partner, or dependent children
- Sponsor your parents and grandparents
- Sponsor your relatives
- Visit your children or grandchildren
- Sponsor your adopted child
- Help for spouses or partners who are experiencing abuse
- Immigration options for sponsored spouses or partners
This article is about the process to sponsor your spouse, partner, or child: If you’re eligible, you can sponsor your spouse, partner, or dependent children to become permanent residents of Canada.
If you do, you must be able to:
- support them financially
- make sure they don’t need social assistance from the government
To Sponsor a spouse or partner there is a fee of $1,050, or a child sponsorship fees is $150
There are 4 steps to sponsor your spouse, partner or child:
1. Get the application package
2. Pay your application fees
In most cases, your fees will include:
- processing fees for you, the persons you’re sponsoring and their dependants
- the right of permanent residence fee
- the biometrics fee
You have to pay your fees online
3. Submit your application
The mailing instructions are in the application guide.
You may use a courier service to submit your application, if you want to. Courier services will help you track your application. You can also use regular mail.
4. Send additional requested information during processing. For Example:
- You need to include police certificates when you apply.
- You need them for the person being sponsored and each family member 18 or older (who isn’t already a Canadian citizen or permanent resident).
- Police certificates are generally valid for 1 year from the date they’re issued.
- Depending on processing times, we may ask you for new certificates.
The processing time to Sponsor a spouse, partner is about 12 months and to Sponsor a child varies from country to country.
Who can not sponsor spouse, partner or child?
You can’t sponsor your spouse, partner or child if:
- you’re less than 18 years old
- you won’t live in Canada when the persons you want to sponsor become permanent residents
- you’re not a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act
- you’re a temporary resident, that is you’re visiting, studying or working in Canada on a visa or permit
- your permanent residence application is still in process
- You must have permanent resident status at the time you submit your sponsorship application.
- you don’t have enough money to support the persons you want to sponsor (if applicable)
You may not be eligible to sponsor your spouse, partner if you:
- were sponsored by a spouse or partner and you became a permanent resident less than 5 years ago
- are still financially responsible for a previous spouse or partner that you sponsored. This means you’re still bound by the 3 year undertaking to take care of this person.
You may not be eligible to sponsor your spouse, partner or child if you:
- you have already applied to sponsor the spouse, parent or child you are currently seeking to sponsor and a decision on that application hasn’t been made
- are in jail, prison, or a penitentiary
- didn’t pay back:
- an immigration loan
- a performance bond
- court-ordered family support payments such as alimony or child support (however its not applicable if you live in Quebec)
- didn’t give the financial support you agreed to when you signed a sponsorship agreement to sponsor someone else in the past (however its not applicable if you live in Quebec)
- declared bankruptcy and are not discharged (however its not applicable if you live in Quebec)
- receive social assistance for a reason other than a disability
- you were convicted of attempting, threatening to commit or committing a violent criminal offence, any offence against a relative or any sexual offence inside or outside Canada
- can’t legally stay in Canada and must leave the country because you received a Removal Order
In most cases, there isn’t an income requirement to sponsor your spouse or partner or dependent child. You only need to show that you have enough money to meet the income requirements if:
- you’re sponsoring a dependent child that has 1 or more dependent children of their own, or
- you’re sponsoring a spouse or partner that has a dependent child, and their dependent child has 1 or more children of their own.
If you live in Quebec
You must meet Quebec’s immigration sponsorship requirements after we approve you as a sponsor. You must sign an undertaking with the province of Quebec.
The Quebec ministry in charge of immigration will assess your income
A common question is about who Canada defines as a spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner or dependent children
Your spouse can be either sex (Male or Female) and must be:
- legally married to you
- at least 18 years old
Your common-law partner (similar to girlfriend or boyfriend):
- isn’t legally married to you
- can be either sex
- is at least 18 years old
- has been living with you for at least 12 consecutive months, meaning you’ve been living together continuously for 1 year in a conjugal relationship, without any long periods apart
- Any time spent away from each other should have been
- short
- temporary
- Any time spent away from each other should have been
If you or your common-law partner choose to end the relationship, IRCC considers the relationship to be over.
You’ll need to give proof of your common-law relationship.
Your conjugal partner:
- isn’t legally married to you or in a common-law relationship with you
- can be either sex
- is at least 18 years old
- has been in a relationship with you for at least 1 year
- lives outside Canada
- can’t live with you in their country of residence or marry you because of significant legal and immigration reasons such as
- their marital status (for example, they’re still married to someone else in a country where divorce isn’t possible)
- their sexual orientation (for example, you are in a same-sex relationship, and same-sex relationships are not accepted, or same-sex marriage is illegal where they live),
- persecution (for example, your relationship is between different religious groups which is not accepted and they may be punished legally or socially)
You’ll need to give proof that you could not live together or get married in your conjugal partner’s country (for example, proof of refused long-term stays in each other’s country).
Children qualify as dependants if they meet both of these requirements:
- they’re under 22 years old
- they don’t have a spouse or common law partner
Children 22 years old or older qualify as dependants if they meet both of these requirements:
- they are unable to financially support themselves because of a mental or physical condition
- they have depended on their parents for financial support since before the age of 22
With the exception of age, your dependent child must continue to meet these requirements until we finish processing your application.
To apply to sponsor your spouse, partner or child, there are 2 applications:
- You must apply to become a sponsor.
- Your spouse, partner or child must apply for permanent residence.
Send both the sponsorship and the permanent residence applications together at the same time.
If you want to sponsor your adopted child or an orphaned family member, follow the instructions to sponsor your adopted child given on the IRCC website.
If you live in Quebec, find out the steps to take to sponsor your spouse, partner or child in Quebec on the Ministry of Immigration, Frenchisation and Integration’s website.
If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or get in touch with us on our website www.visavendor.com and we will be happy to help you with your questions and Don’t forget to read our another article about PNPs Overview
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