The Government of Canada is strongly committed to keeping families together and, as such, allows parents to sponsor their dependent children for Canadian immigration.
If you are a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident and wish to bring your family members to Canada, you may do so using the Canadian Family Sponsorship Program. Canada is vested in bringing families together using programs such as Family Sponsorship to allow family members of Canadians to apply for permanent residency.
Family Class Sponsorship enables you to sponsor some family members or relatives if you become a Permanent Resident or Citizen of Canada. Provided that you are at least 18 years old and you will provide for their needs upon arriving, also you should be a Citizen or a Permanent Resident.
Sponsor your spouse, partner, or child: The Process
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
Sponsor your Parents and Grandparents:
If you submitted the interest to sponsor form in 2020 and were invited to apply to the 2021 intake, you can sponsor your parents and grandparents to become permanent residents of Canada.
If you’re invited to apply, two (2) applications are submitted and reviewed for the parents and grandparents program:
- the Sponsorship Application; and
- the Permanent Residence Application
If both applications are approved, you’ll sign an agreement called an undertaking that starts on the day the person you’re sponsoring (and their family members, if this applies) becomes a permanent resident of Canada.
Who is eligible to Sponsor a Parent or Grandparent?
You can sponsor your parents and grandparents if:
- You’re invited to apply;
- You’re at least 18 years old;
- You live in Canada;
- You’re a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act; and
- You have enough money to support the people you want to sponsor.
To show that you have enough, you’ll have to provide your proof of income and/or:
- You may have a spouse or common-law partner co-sign to combine your incomes; and
- You meet all other requirements under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.
Sponsor your Relatives:
You may be able to sponsor certain relatives to immigrate to Canada under the Family Class if you’re at least 18 years old and a:
- Canadian citizen;
- Person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act; and/or a
- Permanent resident of Canada.
If you sponsor a relative to come to Canada as a permanent resident, you must:
- support your relative financially when they arrive
- be able to meet basic needs for yourself and your relative, such as food, shelter, and clothing.
- make sure your relative doesn’t need social assistance
Sponsor Your Adopted Child
There are two processes that you must go through when you adopt a child from another country: the adoption process and the immigration process.
The immigration process has two (2) parts:
- the application for sponsorship; and
- the application for permanent residence for the child.
After your child arrives in Canada as a permanent resident, you can apply for citizenship on the child’s behalf. However, the adoption must be finalized before the child can be granted citizenship.
The process of family sponsorship is complex and often confusing because the application for this process may change each year. But one of our goals and responsibilities at WestSun is to make this process enjoyable and easy for you and your family.
