Family Sponsorship
A family member who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident may sponsor a foreign person who wishes to immigrate to Canada. The family member must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada and satisfy the following criteria in order to qualify as a sponsor:
- be at least 18 years old;
- live in Canada; and
- have enough income to support their foreign relatives
Who can be sponsored?
- Spouses, common-law or conjugal partners;
- Parents and grandparents;
- Dependent children, including adopted children;
- Orphaned brother, sister, nephew, niece or grandchild; under 18 years of age and not married or in a common-law relationship; or Any relative if the sponsor is alone in Canada and has no one who can be sponsored as above
What is the processing time?
Depending on the type of application being submitted, processing times may change. For instance, it may take 12 to 14 months to process a spousal sponsorship from the time the IRCC receives the application to the time the visa is issued. On the other side, dependent kid cases are processed within 6 months while parent or grandparent sponsorships can take up to 2 years to process.
Submission of an incomplete package is the main reason why sponsorship applications take longer to process. Lawfully, immigration officers are permitted to return incomplete applications even before they start processing them. Lack of sufficient documentation of a relationship is frequently blamed for delays in spousal or common-law partner sponsorships. Such delays may significantly affect the foreign national's position in Canada.
Find out more about family sponsorships and how it relates to your individual situation.
