Family Sponsorship
The following members of family class can be sponsored:
• spouses, common law partners, and conjugal partners
A “common law partner” (also known as a “common law spouse”) is a person who is cohabiting with the person in a conjugal relationship for at least 1 year; the year of cohabiting must be a continuous 12-month period.
A “conjugal partner” is a person outside Canada who has had a binding relationship with the sponsor for at least one year but who did not live together continuously for one year, usually because of legal or social obstacles, such as a separation due to war, natural disasters, and other extreme circumstances.
• dependent children
A “dependent child” is the child who is:
(i) is less than 22 years of age and is not a spouse or common-law partner, or
(ii) is 22 years of age or older and has depended substantially on the financial support of the parent since before attaining the age of 22 years and is unable to be financially self-supporting due to a physical or mental condition.
• children intended for adoption
• parents, grandparents, and their dependent children
• brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, and grandchildren who are orphaned, who are under 18, and who are not a spouse or common law partner
• any relative, if the sponsor is alone in Canada without family members and has none of the above family members to sponsor.
The following family members cannot be sponsored:
(1) the foreign national applicant is the sponsor’s spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner and is under 18 years of age;
(2) the sponsor is already sponsoring a spouse, common law partner, or conjugal partner, and the undertaking has not ended;
(3) the foreign national is the sponsor’s spouse and
(4) the sponsor or the foreign national at the time of their marriage was the spouse of another person;
(5)the sponsor has lived separate and apart from the applicant for at least one year and is either (A) the common law partner of another person or the conjugal partner of another foreign national, or (B) the applicant is the common law partner of another person or the conjugal partner of another sponsor; or
(6) the marriage was performed without both spouses being physically present.
(7) the applicant was a non-accompanying family member of the sponsor and was not examined when the sponsor previously applied to Canada as a permanent resident.
To qualify as a “sponsor,” a person must:
(1) be either a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident,
(2) be at least 18 years old,
(3) reside in Canada (see the exception* below),
(4) prove that you are not receiving social assistance for reasons other than a disability,
(5) be able to show that you can provide basic needs for himself/herself, his/her spouse or partner, his/her spouse or partner’s dependent child(ren) (if applicable), his/her dependent child(ren) (if sponsoring only his/er dependent child)
(6) file an application to sponsor a member of the family class.
*Generally, the sponsor must reside in Canada. An exception is made when a Canadian citizen residing outside Canada satisfies immigration officials that he will resume residence in Canada when the sponsored person becomes a permanent resident. However, permanent residents, while living abroad, may not sponsor.
A person cannot be a “sponsor” if he/she:
(1) is in default on an immigration loan or a performance bond
(2) did not pay court-ordered alimony or child support
(3) has declared bankruptcy which has not been discharged
(4) were convicted of an offence of a sexual nature, a violent crime, an offence against a relative that caused bodily harm or threatened or attempted to commit any of the above offences
(5) are sponsoring a spouse or partner and you were previously sponsored as a spouse, common-law or conjugal partner and became a permanent resident of Canada less than five years ago,
(6) are under a removal order,
(7) are in a penitentiary, jail, reformatory or prison,
(8) have already applied to sponsor your current spouse or partner and haven’t received a decision.