Family Sponsorship
Are you a resident of Canada and looking forward to sponsor your family to Canada? Well, Canada Family Class immigration stream facilitates the Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada to offer sponsorship to their close family members. The Government of Canada shows their utmost commitment to help the citizens reunite their family wherever and whenever possible.
With and without bg
Family Sponsorship
What makes me eligible to sponsor a family member to Canada?
You can only sponsor an individual family member or a relative to Canada if you’re at least 18 years old and are a
♦ Citizen of Canada, or
♦ Permanent resident of Canada
♦ Registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian-Indian Act
if you meet this criteria, you can sponsor your close family member to Canada.
Who can you sponsor?
Generally, the Canadian government allows you to sponsor only close family members like spouse, parents, grandparents, children, adopted children, brothers, sisters, uncle & aunt (in particular situations). In addition to that, the family member you’re sponsoring must be in a position to provide financial support to other family members.
Sponsor Your Spouse Or Conjugal Partner To Canada
Canadian Spouse Sponsorship Program allows the Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada to sponsor their partner to come to Canada and live here permanently. In Canada, the government recognizes the importance of living with the partner and family. Therefore, the spouse sponsorship applications are at the topmost priority in Canada.
How much time does it take to get sponsorship application accepted?
On average, a good-to-go spousal sponsorship application takes 12 months to get processed from start to finish. In some cases, it may take a little less time and in other cases, it may take even more than 12 months. It depends on the nature of your case and the number off applications Canada Immigration receives every year. Generally Immigration of Canada posts the approximate time taken for applications on their website.
In case of complicated cases, you may also require to provide additional proof of your relationship, which may further delay the processing of your application.
Parent & Grandparents Sponsership
Parent and Grandparents Program (PGP)
The parents and grandparents who are successfully sponsored to Canada automatically become permanent residents of Canada and get all the benefits that come along. That means they can live in Canada and work in any desired location in the country without any restrictions. In addition to that, they will also get access to free healthcare and services available to permanent residents. Ultimately, they receive the citizenship of Canada.
Under the current multi-year immigration plan of Canadian Government, annually 21,000 (Number may change every year) new permanent residents are admissible as permanent residents in Canada under the Parents & Grandparents Program. There is no first-come-first-serve rule anymore; the cases are being processed randomly.
Eligibility Criteria for Parent & Grandparent Program
In order to be eligible for the sponsorship, both the person offering sponsorship and the person receiving sponsorship must fulfil some eligibility criteria.
The sponsor must be
♦ Citizen of Canada, or
♦ Permanent Resident of Canada, or
♦ Registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian-Indian Act
Other family members
Sponsoring Siblings, Nephew, or Niece
You can only sponsor your sibling or nephew/niece to live and work in Canada if you’re at least 18 years old and are a:
♦ Citizen of Canada, or
♦ Permanent Resident of Canada, or
♦ Registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian-Indian Act
Also, you must either be living in Canada to sponsor your sibling or nephew/niece, or:
♦ You must be a Canadian Citizen who lives abroad; or
♦ You’re planning to return to Canada when your sibling immigrates here
Requirements for Sponsoring Your Sibling to Canada
Refugee Sponsorship
The Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) program of Canada allows certain private groups offer sponsorship to the refugees residing abroad. Under this sponsorship program, the private sponsor must agree to support the refugee for the entire sponsorship period which is usually up to 1 year. The support a refugee, private sponsor will have to provide the followings:
♦ Settling & start-up costs, such as arranging furniture and clothing to the refugee
♦ Monthly financial help to fulfill refugee’s basic needs such as food, housing, and public transportation
♦ Social and emotional support to the refugee
Who can sponsor refugees?
An individual cannot sponsor a refugee to Canada. In order to be eligible for this kind of sponsorship, you must be a part of one of the following groups in Canada:
♦ Sponsorship agreement holders (SAH): SAHs have agreements with the Canadian Government to help support refugees once they arrive in Canada.
There are constituent groups as well that work with SAHs to sponsor refugees under the SAH’s agreement
♦ Groups of Five: Group of 5 or more Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada are also eligible to sponsor refugees to settle in the country
♦ Community Sponsors: Community Sponsors are basically the organizations, associations or corporations that are eligible to sponsor refugees.
