Family Sponsorship
If you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, age 18 or over, you can sponsor certain family members to become Canadian permanent residents. If you become a permanent resident, you can live, study and work in Canada. If you sponsor a relative to come to Canada as a permanent resident, you are responsible for supporting your relative financially when he or she arrives.
Who you can sponsor:
- Spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner
- Dependent child (or child you plan to adopt): must be 21 and younger
- Parents and Grandparents: father, mother, grandfather or grandmother
- Orphaned Relatives: brother, sister, nephew, niece, grandson or granddaughter, who are orphaned, under the age of 18, and not married or in a common-law relationship
- Other relative: *only Lonely Canadians are eligible to sponsor (have no other family living in Canada)
Basic requirements for family sponsorship are
These apply to you if:
- a permanent resident or Canadian citizen is sponsoring you,
- you and your sponsor have been in a relationship for two years or less,
- you have no children in common and
- we got your application on or after October 25, 2012
There are two steps to the application process for your spouse, partner or children to become permanent residents.
- As a citizen or permanent resident of Canada, you must apply to sponsor your family member.
- Your spouse, common-law or conjugal partner, or dependent children must apply for permanent residence. Sponsorship eligibility is a very subjective process and because of numerous cases of marriage fraud, CIC officers need to be convinced that the spousal sponsorship is a legitimate bond.
Mistakes can happen. If you do not know the laws and an application is improperly completed it can be a nightmare and can lead to shattered dreams of reuniting loved ones. At Greenfield Canada Immigration Services we are Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants and have a expansive knowledge of the regulations to help guide you in this matter.
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