If you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, over the age of 18, you can sponsor your husband or wife, common-law partner, conjugal partner, child (including adopted child), parent, grandparent or orphaned niece or nephew, to become a permanent resident.
Who is a member of the Family Class?
Immigration Canada refers to immigrants who are eligible to be sponsored as members of the Family Class.
Specifically, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident may sponsor:
- spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner;
- parent;
- grandparent;
- dependent child;
- orphaned brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces or grandchildren under the age of 18 and unmarried;
- adopted children under the age of 18;
- any one relative, without restriction on relationship, as long as the sponsor does not have any relatives outlined above who are already Canadian citizens or permanent residents;
Who qualifies as a ‘Dependent Child’?
You are considered to be a dependent child if you are under 22 and unmarried on the date the application for sponsorship is submitted and continue to be unmarried on the date that you land in Canada;
You are considered to be a dependent child if you are over the age of 22 but continuously enrolled in full-time studies and financially dependent on your parents since before the age of 22.
You are considered to be a dependent child if you have been financially dependent on your parents prior to reaching the age of 22 due to a disability.
(a child may take a break from full-time studies for period of less than one year at a time and still qualify as a ‘dependent child’ where he/she remains financially dependent upon his/her parents)
What are my obligations as a Sponsor?
As a Sponsor, your obligations begin as soon as the person you are sponsoring becomes a Canadian Permanent Resident.
If the person I sponsored is… |
When do my obligations end? |
|
your spouse or your common-law or conjugal partner |
three years after the applicant becomes a permanent resident |
| your dependent child or a dependent child of your spouse or partner and that child is under twenty-two years old when he/she becomes a permanent resident |
The earlier of ten years after the child becomes a permanent resident or on the day that child reaches age 25 |
| your dependent child or a dependent child of your spouse or partner and that child is twenty-two years of age or older on the day he/she becomes a permanent resident |
three years after that child becomes a permanent resident |
| your parent, grandparent or dependent child of your parent |
ten years after that person becomes a permanent resident |
|
