Family Class

Canadian citizens and permanent residents living in Canada, 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 ten years to help them settle in Canada

Spouse and Children

If you are sponsoring your spouse, common law partner, conjugal partner, or dependent children, you do not need to meet minimum income requirements. For spouses, common law partners, and conjugal partners, you must prove that the relationship is genuine, and not entered into primarily for the purposes of immigration. Besides a marriage certificate, or evidence of cohabitation for at least 1 year, you may be required to provide evidence such as pictures, letters, telephone bills, emails, and other things to prove your relationship is real.

When sponsoring your spouse or partner to immigrate, you must undertake to support him or her for basic life necessities, for at least 3 years (for spouses and common law partners), and 10 years or more for children. This Undertaking will continue, regardless of whether you stay together or get divorced.

You may also sponsor your dependent children. These are children who are under age 22 at the time of application, and financially supported by you. If they are 22 or over, they may still be considered your dependents if you are financially supporting them, and are either full time students, or have some physical or mental disability. They can be natural or adopted.

All relatives must pass medical and criminal background checks. If there are any issues about these, they can sometimes be overcome on humanitarian and compassionate grounds

Parents and Grandchildren

When sponsoring your parents or grandparents to immigrate, you must undertake to support them for basic life necessities, for at least 10 years after immigrating to Canada. In the event they do seek government assistance for these, you would be required to repay this to the government. At this time, it is taking anywhere from 4-6 years to process this class depending in which country they are residing at this time. It is sometimes best to bring your parents and grandchildren in via a visitors permit if you would like them to share in your lifestyle rather than wait a long period of time. Again we can assist in this process

Income Requirements

Sponsoring your parents or grandparents means you will need to meet a minimum income requirement for the previous 12 months. The amount is based upon the “Low Income Cut Off” amount, determined by Statistics Canada, and is revised in February each year. Below are the current guidelines:

For 2 people = $24,745
For 3 people = $30,774
For 4 people = $37,253
For 5 people = $41,642
For 6 people = $46,031
For 7 people = $50,421