Family Sponsorship

Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are 18 years of age or older may sponsor close relatives or family members who want to become permanent residents of Canada. Sponsors must promise to support the relative or family member and their accompanying family members for a period of three to 10 years to help them settle in Canada.

You can sponsor relatives or family members from abroad if they are:

• pouses, common-law or conjugal partners 16 years of age or older;
• parents and grandparents;
• dependent children, including adopted children;*
• children under 18 years of age whom you intend to adopt;
• brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces or grandchildren who are orphans; under the age of 18 and not married or in a common-law relationship; or
• you may also sponsor one relative of any age if you do not have a family member from the list above who you could sponsor or who is already a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

• is under the age of 22 and does not have a spouse or common-law partner;
• is a full time student and is substantially dependent on a parent for financial support since before the age of 22, or since becoming a spouse or common-law partner (if this happened before age 22); or
• is financially dependent on a parent since before the age of 22 because of a disability.

Brothers and Sisters

If you wish to sponsor a brother or sister, you generally cannot sponsor them directly unless they are an orphan, under the age of 18 and not married or in a common-law relationship. However, you may include a brother or sister as part of the sponsorship of a parent if they are still dependent on their parent.

Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada Class

When sponsoring a spouse or common-law partner, the application is normally processed at a Canadian Visa Office in the country where the applicant normally resides. However, if you and your spouse are already in Canada, you may instead have the application processed from inside of Canada. There are both advantages and disadvantages to applying from inside of Canada. Please contact us for further details.

If you would like to have a free assessment of your eligibility to sponsor a family member, please click here.

If you have a question you would like to ask relating to sponsoring a family member please click here.