Family Sponsorship Program

Sponsor your spouse, partner or dependent children

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

Who is eligible to sponsor their spouse, partner or child

You can sponsor your spouse, partner or dependent child if:

• You’re at least 18 years old
• You’re a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act
  • If you’re a Canadian citizen living outside Canada, you must show that you plan to live in Canada when the persons you want to sponsor become permanent residents.
  • You can’t sponsor someone if you’re a permanent resident living outside Canada.
• You’re able to prove that you’re not receiving social assistance for reasons other than a disability
• you can provide for the basic needs of any persons you want to sponsor

Income requirement

In most cases, there isn’t an income requirement to sponsor your spouse or partner or dependent child. You only need to show that you have enough money to meet the income requirements

• If you’re sponsoring a dependent child that has 1 or more dependent children of their own, or
• If you’re sponsoring a spouse or partner that has a dependent child, and their dependent child has 1 or more children of their own.

Sponsor your parents and grandparents

This is a program to sponsor parents and grandparents to become permanent residents of Canada

Eligibility

You can sponsor your own biological or adopted 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
• 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
  • you may have a spouse or common-law partner co-sign the application to combine your incomes
• you and your parents and grandparents 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 or
• person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act or
• 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, clothing
• make sure your relative doesn’t need social assistance

Sponsoring an eligible relative

You can sponsor certain relatives if you’re 18 years of age or older and a:

• Canadian citizen or
• person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act or
• permanent resident of Canada

You must live in Canada to sponsor eligible relatives unless you:

• are a Canadian citizen who lives abroad and
• plan to return to Canada when your relatives immigrate and
• are sponsoring your:
• spouse or
• common-law or conjugal partner or
• dependent children who have no dependent children

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 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.

Eligibility

Requirements to sponsor a child

To sponsor a child from another country for adoption, you must:

• be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident (if you do not currently reside in Canada, you must do so when the adopted child becomes a permanent resident);
• live in Canada; and
• be at least 18 years old.