Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) knows it is important to help families who come from other countries to reunite in Canada. If you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, you can sponsor your spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, dependent child (including adopted child) or other eligible relative (such as a parent or grandparent) to become a permanent resident.

CIC refers to the immigrants who are eligible to use this family sponsoring process as the Family Class.

Who Can Be a Sponsor?

You can sponsor certain relatives if you are a citizen or permanent resident of Canada and if you are 18 years of age or older.

You may not be eligible to sponsor a relative if you:

• failed to provide the financial support you agreed to when you signed
• a sponsorship agreement to sponsor another relative in the past
• defaulted on a court-ordered support order, such as alimony or child support
• receive government financial assistance for reasons other than a
• disability
•  were convicted of a violent criminal offence, any offence against a
• relative or any sexual offence—depending on circumstances, such as the nature of the offence, how long ago it occurred and whether a pardon was issued
• defaulted on an immigration loan—late or missed payments
• are in prison or
• have declared bankruptcy and have not been released from it yet.

Other factors may also make you ineligible to sponsor a relative. Contact Join Canada today to assess your eligibility to sponsor to your family member.

Obligations of the Sponsor

When you sponsor a relative to become a permanent resident of Canada, you must promise to support that person and their dependents financially. Therefore, you have to meet certain income requirements. If you have previously sponsored relatives who later turned to the Canadian government for financial assistance, you may not be allowed to sponsor another person. Sponsorship is a big commitment, so you must take this obligation seriously.

To be a sponsor:

• 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 states that the person becoming a permanent resident will make every effort to support themselves. Dependent children under age 22 do not have to sign this agreement. Quebec residents must sign an “undertaking” with the province of Quebec - a contract binding the sponsorship.
• You must promise to provide financial support for the relative and any other eligible relatives accompanying them for a period of three to ten years, depending on their age and relationship to you. This time period begins on the date they become a permanent resident.

If you live in Quebec, you must also meet Quebec’s immigration sponsorship requirements after Citizenship and Immigration Canada approves you as a sponsor.

If you are a Canadian citizen who lives abroad and plans to return to Canada when your relatives immigrate, you may sponsor your spouse, common-law or conjugal partner, or your dependent children who have no dependent children. To sponsor any other eligible relatives (for example, parents and grandparents), you must be living in Canada.

Who Can Be Sponsored

You can sponsor:

• spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner and dependent children
• parents
• grandparents
• brothers or sisters, nephews or nieces, granddaughters or grandsons who are orphaned, under 18 years of age and not married or in a common-law relationship
• another relative of any age or relationship but only under specific conditions (see Note below)
• accompanying relatives of the above (for example, spouse, partner and dependent children).

Note: you can sponsor one relative regardless of age or relationship only if you do not have a living spouse or common-law partner, conjugal partner, a son or daughter, parent, grandparent, sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece who could be sponsored as a member of the family class, and you do not have any relative who is a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident or registered as an Indian under the Indian Act.

There are several other conditions that may apply concerning whom you can and cannot sponsor. Contact Join Canada and we will accurately advise you about which of your family members are eligible to be sponsored.