Sponsor Visa Options

Overview of Canadian Immigration Family Sponsorship

Family reunification is one of the mainstays of Canada’s immigration system. Since the end of WWII, Canada has looked to invite immigrants to solidify its economy, unite families, and on philanthropic humanitarian and compassionate grounds. The family class is the second biggest category of immigrants invited by Canada under its Immigration Levels Plan. Canada is chasing after the most significant levels of movement in its set of experiences to help its post-Coronavirus economic recovery. Hence, Canada plans to invite more than 440,000 new immigrants each year, of which, more than of 100,000 migrants each year come under the family class.

The country’s immigration system is overseen by the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), previously known as Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). IRCC lays out and manages Canada’s family sponsorship program. This involves establishing program criteria, accepting and reviewing family sponsorship applications, and giving permanent as well as temporary resident visas.

What is Canadian family sponsorship

There are two main viewpoints to family sponsorship:

It permits your relative to move to Canada and get Canadian Permanent Resident (PR) Status.

It requires you, as a person, to sincerely promise to accommodate basic needs and to monetarily support your family member financially.

How is COVID-19 impacting family sponsorship?

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is accepting family sponsorship applications.

While the processing of sponsorship applications has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Canadian government keeps on searching for creative and compassionate ways of reuniting families.

Here are a portion of the means that have been taken:

IRCC has expanded the number of staff who will audit spousal sponsorship applications by 66% to lessen wait times and process applications all the more rapidly.

IRCC is likewise executing a pilot project that will involve new innovation to digitize paper applications for quicker handling.

IRCC has shown that it might implement biometric measures and introduce technology with direct meetings with applicants remotely.

In the event that you get Employment Insurance and Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), you can in any case support your life partner, parent, grandparent, kid or other relative seeing as though you meet all the criteria needed to become a sponsor.

Assuming the individual you have sponsored received Employment Insurance (EI) or CERB during the undertaking period, this won’t make you need to default on your commitments.

Can I be a sponsor?

To sponsor a family member, you are required to meet several requirements like:

a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada

18 years of age or older

able to provide financial stability for the person you have sponsored for several years

Who can I sponsor?

Spouses and common-law partners

Dependent children

Parents and grandparents

There are exceptions for this standard, however, and it very well might be feasible to sponsor a non-close relative (for instance, a sister, niece, or uncle) if:

you have no other close relatives you could support, or you have lawfully taken on them and they meet the definition of dependent child.

What are the income requirements to sponsor?

As a support, you are expected to sign a Sponsorship Agreement with your sponsored family member. This is a responsibility by you to provide financial support for the basic needs (food, shelter, dress, and wellbeing needs not covered by public health services) of the individual you are supporting/sponsoring.

For certain kinds of sponsorships, you will likewise need to meet or exceed the Low Income Cut-off (LICO), for example if:

you are sponsoring a spouse or partner who has a dependent child and that dependent child has at least one children of their own, or

you are sponsoring a dependent child who has at least more dependent children of their own, or

you are sponsoring a parent or grandparent.

Additionally, if you reside in Quebec, you should meet Quebec’s sponsorship prerequisites and your income will be surveyed by the Quebec immigration ministry.

What is a sponsorship undertaking?

An “undertaking” bonding you to the family member you are sponsoring will be asked of you to sign. You must pay back this money if that family member ever needs government social assistance.

Depending on the family member you are supporting, the undertaking will remain in force for a certain period of time and will not be canceled even if circumstances change (i.e. if the person you are sponsoring becomes a Canadian citizen, if you divorce or separate, if you have financial problems).

The family member you are sponsoring, as well as, in the case of minors, their age, will determine how long of an undertaking you are expected to sign:

Sponsored person	Length of undertaking (excluding Quebec)
Spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner	3 years
Dependent child	10 years, or until age 25, whichever comes first
Dependent child 22 years of age or older	3 years
Parent or grandparent	20 years
Other relative	10 years

For Quebec residents, the length of the undertaking depends on the family member you are sponsoring and, in the case of children, their age:

Sponsored person	Length of undertaking
Spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner	3 years
Dependent child under 16 years of age	Minimum 10 years (or until age 18), whichever is longer
Dependent child 16 years of age and older	Minimum 3 years (or until age 25), whichever is longer
Other relatives	10 years

How to Apply for Family Sponsorship

Stage 1: Ensure you meet qualification measures to be a sponsor. (Eligibility)

Stage 2: Ensure that the family members you intend to sponsor meet eligibility measures or criteria.

Stage 3: You will need to apply at the federal level to the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and, in the event that you are a Quebec occupant, at the provincial level to the Ministry of Immigration, Francization, and Integration (MIFI). You should present your sponsorship application and the permanent residence (PR) status utilizations of your relatives or family members together. Whenever you have been considered qualified to sponsor, your PR application will be reviewed by the aforementioned organizations.

Stage 4: You will be expected to pay the family sponsorship application fee.

Stage 5: Send your application to the right location and address. You will find this data in the sponsorship guide that is accessible for download on the government site.

Sponsor your Wife, Husband, or Common-law Partner

Spouse or Common Law-Partner Sponsorship

If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada you might sponsor:

your life partner/spouse (you are lawfully married)
common-law partner (you are not legally married yet have been living together for a minimum of 12 months in an intimate relationship).
Intimate partner (you are not legally married or in a common-law relationship and they are living outside Canada)

To be qualified for spousal or common-law partner sponsorship, you should:

be 18 years old, a Canadian Permanent Resident living in Canada or Canadian Citizen,
show the way that you can accommodate the basic needs for you as well as your spouse or partner,
Prove your relationship with the sponsored person is genuine by giving supporting documentation.
To be qualified for spousal or common-law partner sponsorship, the sponsored person must:
Not tightly related to you and above the age of 18.

There are two kinds of spousal or common-law sponsorship applications:

Inland: The application can be produced using inside Canada in light of the fact that the individual you wish to support is at present in Canada. This kind of sponsorship permits candidates to keep on living in Canada while their application for permanent residence is being handled.

Assuming the application is produced inside Canada, the individual you are supporting might apply for an open work permit that would permit them to work for any business in Canada while the sponsorship application is being processed.

It is possible for spouses or partners to come to Canada by first applying for a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV).

Outland: The application is produced abroad through a Government office or Department such as an Embassy or Consulate.

For this situation, the individual you are sponsoring and who resides abroad will typically wait for permanent residence outside Canada, however may visit you in Canada.

Sponsor your Parents or Grandparents

The Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Program (PGP) and the Super Visa Program are two programs that offer Canadian citizens and permanent residents the amazing chance to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada.

To be qualified under the Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Program, you should:

be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident living in Canada,
be at least 18 years old,
be the child or grandchild of the person(s) you are sponsoring,
meet the Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) expected for the size of their family unit and give Canada Revenue Agency issued notices of assessment as verification,
consent to a sponsorship arrangement that recognizes your guarantee/promise to accommodate the basic needs of family member(s) for a time period of 20 years,
consent to an extra arrangement assuming that you live in Quebec.
Your spouse or common-law partner can assist you with meeting the income requirement by co-signing the undertaking.

If you are getting help from a co-signer to meet the requirements of the MNI, then you must make sure the co-signer also meets the same eligibility requirements as you. In addition to this, your co-signer must:

not be the person being sponsored,
have cohabited with you in a conjugal relationship for at least one year.

Super Visa Program

The Super Visa program permits parents and grandparents to come to Canada on extended multiple-entry visas that can last up to 10 years in total. This program is always 100% open, and it is feasible to apply simultaneously as to the Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Program (PGP).

To be qualified under the Super Visa Program, you must:

be the parent or grandparent of a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada,

have signed a letter of invitation from your child or grandchild,

have medical insurance

Be residing outside of Canada when applying for the super visa

Also, your Canadian child or grandchild should demonstrate that their household meets the minimum necessary income.

We hope this article would give your a clear picture of how Canadian Sponsorship Visa Works and how you can apply the same to get your loved one back to you in Canada. We are a 100% Canadian Company that has helped thousands of Immigrants like you and offer great services apart from our success rate of 98.9% in Canada Visa Approval Rates. Feel free to contact us to discuss your options.

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