Sponsorship
Who May be Sponsored
Under family class immigration, a Canadian citizen, a Canadian permanent resident or a person registered in Canada as an Indian who is at least 18 years old can be a sponsor.
Generally, the sponsor must reside in Canada. One exception is that if a Canadian citizen, as a sponsor, residing outside Canada and could satisfy the immigration officials that he/she will reside in Canada when the sponsored person becomes permanent resident.
The list of persons who may be sponsored includes
- spouses, common-law partners, and conjugal partners
- dependent children
- children intended for adoption
- parents, grandparents, and their dependent children
- brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, and grandchildren who are orphaned, who are under 18, and who are not a spouse or common-law partner, and
- any relative, if the sponsor is alone in Canada without family members and has none of the above family members to sponsor
Spouse, common-law partner and conjugal partner
A spouse, common-law partner, and conjugal partner are all spousal relationship under the immigration law, which is applicable to both opposite sex and same sex relationship.
A foreign national who is sponsored as a spouse to the sponsor must have legally married to the sponsor and at the time of the marriage ceremony was conducted both the foreign national and the sponsor have been physically present.
To be sponsored as a common-law partner, the foreign national and the sponsor should have lived together in a conjugal relationship continuously for at least 12 months.
A foreign national outside Canada has had a binding relationship with the sponsor for at least one year but could not live with the sponsor is considered as a conjugal partner.
Dependent children
The definition of dependent children in Canadian immigration law is a bit different than what we usually think of. When a child is in one of the following situation, the child will be considered as a dependent child:
- is less than 22 years of age and is not a spouse or common-law partner, or
- is 22 years of age or older and has depended substantially on the financial support of the parent since before attaining the age of 22 years and is unable to be financially self-supporting due to a physical or mental condition.
When IRCC’s case processing centre receives the sponsorship application and the required processing fees, the dependent children’s age is locked in, which means even the dependent children grow older than 22 years during the sponsorship application’s processing period, they are still counted as dependent children.
Undertaking and the obligations of the sponsor
The sponsor must be committed to be responsible financially for the sponsored family members for a prescribed period once they are admitted to Canada as permanent residents. It was done through signing an agreement for undertaking (an application form) by the sponsor. The undertaking is unconditional and may not be terminated. The duration of the undertaking is determined by the relationship of the sponsored family member to the sponsor and the age of the sponsored family member. The duration of an undertaking could be
- 3 years for a spouse or a common law partner or a conjugal partner of the sponsor
- 10 years or age 22, whichever comes first, for a dependent child who is less than 22 years of age and is the child of the sponsor, or of the sponsor’s spouse or common-law or conjugal partner
- 3 years for a dependent child who is 22 years of age or older and is the child of the sponsor, or of the sponsor’s spouse or common-law or conjugal partner
- 20 years for the sponsor’s parent or grandparent, and an accompanying dependent child
- 10 years for anyone else
Except undertaking, the sponsor has the obligation to ensure the support that the family member needs is provided in order for them to establish in Canada. In addition, the sponsor will repay the Canadian government for any social assistance payment received by the sponsored family members.
Financial requirements of sponsorship
Sponsors must meet the minimum necessary income requirement or Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) with exemptions in some categories of sponsorship:
- For sponsoring spouse, common-law partner, or dependent children, a sponsor is exempt from the LICO requirement
- For sponsoring parents or grandparents, a sponsor must have a total income that is at least equal to the LICO plus 30%, for each of the three consecutive taxation years immediately before the date of filing of the sponsorship
- For sponsoring other relatives, a sponsor must have a total income that is at least equal to the minimum necessary income