Spousal & Family Sponsorship

If you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, age 18 or over, you can sponsor certain family members to become Canadian permanent residents. If you become a permanent resident, you can live, study and work in Canada. If you sponsor a relative to come to Canada as a permanent resident, you are responsible for supporting your relative financially when he or she arrives.

You can sponsor your

Spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner
Dependent child (or child you plan to adopt): must be 21 and younger
Parents and Grandparents: father, mother, grandfather or grandmother
Orphaned Relatives: brother, sister, nephew, niece, grandson or granddaughter, who are orphaned, under the age of 18, and not married or in a common-law relationship
Other relative: *only Lonely Canadians are eligible to sponsor (have no other family living in Canada)

Basic requirements for family sponsorship

To be a sponsor:

You must be 18 years of age or older
You and the sponsored relative must sign a sponsorship agreement that commits you to provide financial support for your relative, if necessary. This agreement also says the person becoming a permanent resident will make every effort to support her or himself
You must provide financial support for a spouse, common-law or conjugal partner for three years from the date they become a permanent resident
You must provide financial support for a dependent child for 10 years, or until the child turns 25, whichever comes first

Spouse – You are a spouse if you are married to your sponsor and your marriage is legally valid

Common-law partner – You are a common-law partner, either of the opposite sex or same sex, if you have been living together in a conjugal relationship for at least one year in a continuous 12-month period that was not interrupted. You will need proof that you and your common-law partner have combined your affairs and set up a household

Conjugal partner – This category is for partners, either of the opposite sex or same sex, in exceptional circumstances beyond their control that prevent them from living together and therefore cannot qualifying as common-law partners or spouses

Dependent children – A son or daughter is dependent when the child:

is 21 and younger and does not have a spouse or common-law partner
is older than 21 and depended substantially on the financial support of a parent since before the age of 22 because of a physical or mental condition

Please Note: Dependant children who are 22 and younger became eligible to be sponsored on November 11, 2017, when changes to immigration legislation will come into force.