Steps for Sponsoring a Family(Family Sponsorship) to Immigrate to Canada

You are interested in Sponsoring  a Family to Immigrate to Canada, but you don’t know how? In this article, you will find steps for Family Sponsorship to immigrate to Canada. This information is intended for Canadian citizens or permanent residents who wish to sponsor a spouse, common-law partner, dependent child, parent, or grandparent to become a permanent resident.

IRCC accepts 80 percent of these immigrants under the Spouses, Partners, and Children Program and 20 percent under the Parents and Grandparents Program.

What Exactly Does the Term “Canadian Family Sponsorship” Mean?

There are two key aspects of sponsorship:

• It permits your family to immigrate to Canada and get permanent residency (PR).
• It is necessary for you, as an individual, to make a commitment to care for the individual’s basic needs and to provide financial support for that person.

In order to be eligible to sponsor a member of your family, you need to fulfill several requirements, including the following:

• A person who is a citizen of Canada or a permanent resident of Canada
• 18 years old or older
• Ability to support the sponsored individual for several years

Who Can You Act As a Sponsor for?

• Dependent children
• Spouses and common-law partners
• Grandparents and parents

There are, however, certain exceptions to this rule, and it is conceivable that you may be able to sponsor a non-immediate family member if:

• You do not have any other immediate family members that you could sponsor.
• You have legally adopted them and they meet the requirements of a dependent child.

What Are the Income Criteria for Sponsorship?

You need to sign a Sponsorship Agreement with the family member that you are sponsoring in order to fulfill your role as a sponsor. You are making a commitment here to provide financial support for the basic needs of the individual you are sponsoring. These basic requirements include food, clothes, a place to live, and any health needs that are not covered by public health services.

In order to qualify for some types of sponsorships, you also should meet or exceed the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO):

• You are a parent or grandparent’s sponsoring
• You sponsor a child who has one or more dependent children of their own
• You are sponsoring a spouse or partner with a dependent child whose dependent child has one or more children of their own.

If you live in Quebec, you are required to fulfill the standards for sponsoring set out by the province of Quebec, and the ministry of immigration in Quebec will evaluate your income.

What Exactly Is a  Sponsorship Undertaking?

You will be asked to sign an “undertaking,” which will put you in the position of being legally responsible for the member of your family who you are sponsoring. You will be required to repay the money if that family member ever needs government social assistance.

The undertaking will remain valid for a certain amount of time depending on the member of your family that you are sponsoring, and it will not be cancelled regardless of changes in your life circumstances (i.e., if the person you are sponsoring becomes a Canadian citizen, if you divorce or separate, if you have financial problems, etc.).

The length of the undertaking that you will be needed to sign will vary depending on the family member that you are sponsoring and, in the case of children, their age:

For Quebec residents:

Applying for Family Sponsorship

• The first thing you need to do is check if you are eligible to be a sponsor.
• Determine whether or not the family you plan to sponsor meet the criteria to be eligible for sponsorship.
• You will need to apply to the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) at the federal level, and if you live in Quebec, you will need to apply to the Ministry of Immigration, Francization, and Integration at the provincial level (MIFI).

It is required that both your sponsorship application and the applications for permanent residency (PR) status of your family members or relatives be submitted at the same time. After it has been determined that you meet the requirements to sponsor, your application for permanent residency will be evaluated.

• You will need to make the payment of the family sponsorship application fee.
• Your application should be sent to the right address. This information can be found in the sponsorship guide that can be downloaded from the official website of the government.

In general, you will likely find that the process of sponsoring your family members is fairly straightforward. You have to plan ahead and complete all the necessary steps during the sponsorship period so that when the time comes, everything will be in place and ready to go. If you keep this in mind from the onset, then there should be little confusion about how things need to play out.