Family Sponsorships

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.

Basic requirements for family sponsorship:

To be a sponsor:

• – You must be 18 years of age or older.
• – You and the sponsored relative must sign a sponsorship agreement that commits you to provide financial support for your relative, if necessary. This agreement also says the person becoming a permanent resident will make every effort to support her or himself.
• – You must provide financial support for a spouse, common-law or conjugal partner for three years from the date they become a permanent resident.
• – You must provide financial support for a dependent child for 10 years, or until the child turns 25, whichever comes first.

Spousal Work Permit Pilot Program

Spouses and common-law partners who are in the country and the subject of immigration applications are allowed to work under the Spousal Work Permit Pilot Program.

The program is designed to allow spouses and partners to work while their immigration applications are being finalized.

Eligible candidates must be in Canada and in the process of being sponsored for permanent residence under the spouse or common-law partner class. Candidates must also have valid temporary status as a visitor, student or worker.

Sponsors living outside Canada:

Canadian citizens living outside of Canada may sponsor their spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner or dependent children without dependent children of their own, who have not been convicted of an offense causing bodily harm, provided that they are able to demonstrate that they will reside in Canada after their sponsored landing(s).

Sponsors and sponsored persons in Quebec:

Sponsor (guarantor):
You can sponsor a close relative who has not been convicted of an offense causing bodily harm if you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident living in Quebec, you are at least 18 years of age and you satisfy the prerequisites.

Sponsored person (close relative):
You can sponsor:

• – your spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner
• – your dependent child
• – your father, mother, grandfather or grandmother – Additional conditions apply
• – your orphaned brother, sister, nephew, niece, grandson or granddaughter, who is under the age of 18, and not married or in a common-law relationship
• – a child you plan to adopt (international adoption).