Family Sponsorship

(Sponsor your Family to Immigrate to Canada)

Family reunification is one of the major objectives of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (the “IRPA”). IRCC establishes and administers Canada’s family sponsorship program. This entails establishing program criteria, accepting and reviewing family sponsorship applications, and issuing permanent resident visa. A Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, age 18 or over, may sponsor the following family members to become permanent residents of Canada.

1. Spouse, Common-Law partner, or conjugal partner
2. Dependent child(ren)
3. Parents or Grandparents
4. Other relatives or adopted child.

All sponsors are required to sign an undertaking to provide the sponsored person with the basic requirements from the day they enter Canada until the term of the undertaking terminates. The undertaking is a contract between the sponsor(s) and IRCC that the sponsor(s) will repay the government for any social assistance payments made to the sponsored person. Sponsors remain obligated to the undertaking agreement for the entire period of the contract, even in a change of circumstances such as marital breakdown, separation, divorce, or a financial change in circumstances.

Under IRCC’s 2021-2023 Immigration Levels Plan, Canada aims to welcome some 80,000 immigrants per year under this category. Canada also aims to welcome more than 20,000 immigrants per year under its Parents and Grandparents Program. The most common sponsorship category is for the spouses, partners, and children of Canadian sponsors.