If you are 18 years or older and a Citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada, then you can sponsor your spouse and close family members to immigrate to Canada. After coming to Canada, your family members can live, study and work in here and are eligible for obtaining all the benefits like health Care, Social Services, Canada Pension Plan, etc. For the application of family class sponsorship to be successful, both the sponsor living in Canada and their family members must meet immigration requirements.
Spousal Sponsorship
Requirements for the Sponsor:
- The sponsor must be at least 18 years of age;
- The sponsor must be a Canadian permanent resident living in Canada or a Canadian citizen;
- The sponsor cannot be in prison, bankrupt, under a removal order (if a permanent resident) or charged with a serious offence; and
- The sponsor cannot have been sponsored to Canada as a spouse within the last 5 years.
Requirements for the Sponsored Person:
- The sponsored person must be at least 16 years of age.
Requirements for the nature of the relationship:
The applicant must prove that the relationship between the sponsor and the sponsored person qualifies under one of three categories:
- Spouse: This means that the Sponsor and the Sponsored Person are legally married. For those married within Canada, a Certificate of Marriage from the province or territory where the marriage took place will show that the marriage is valid. Note that same-sex marriages performed within Canada are valid for spousal sponsorship. If the marriage took place outside of Canada, it must be valid under the law of the country where it took place as well as under Canadian federal law. Same-sex marriages that took place outside of Canada are not valid for spousal sponsorship, but an application can be made under either the common-law partner or conjugal partner categories if such a relationship can be proven.
- Common-law partner: In order to establish a common-law relationship, the Sponsor and the Sponsored Person must cohabit continuously for at least one year, excluding brief absences for business or family reasons.
- Conjugal partner: Conjugal partners can be of either opposite-sex or same-sex. A sponsored person is defined as a conjugal partner if:
- Exceptional circumstances beyond their control have prevented the applicants from qualifying as common-law partners or spouses, such as immigration barriers or legal restrictions limiting divorce or same-sex relationships; and
- The applicants have had a mutually dependent relationship for at least one year with the same level of commitment as a marriage or a common-law union. This can require a demonstration of emotional ties and intimacy, financial closeness, such as joint ownership of assets or mutual financial support, and efforts to spend time together and reunite.
Family Sponsorship
Requirements for the Sponsor:
- Must meet the minimum income threshold for the program
- Sponsor must sign a sponsorship agreement that commits the sponsor to provide financial support to the relatives, if necessary.
- Sponsor must promise to provide financial support for the relative and any other eligible relatives accompanying them for a period of 20 years. The time period begins the day the relatives become a permanent resident of Canada.
Requirements for the Sponsored Person:
- The sponsored person must be the parent(s) grandparent(s) of the sponsor.
Contact us today and get best expert advice. Frontline Immigration can assist you in sponsoring your Spouse or Common Law Partner and family members to Canada in minimum possible time and expenses.
