How to sponsor your family for Canadian PR
Tags: Pr, Canada, Sponsorship, Family

As an Immigration friendly country, there is a number of ways to immigrate to Canada. One of them is the Family Class sponsor program. As a Permanent Resident of Canada, you are allowed to sponsor a family member under the Family Class.

Who is eligible to sponsor?

You can sponsor a relative if you are 18 years or older and a Canadian Citizen or a PR. You must be living in Canada unless

You are a Canadian Citizen living abroad and

Plans to returns to come back to Canada when your relatives immigrate and

are sponsoring your spouse or common in law partner or dependent children.

If you sponsor the relative you must

Support the family member when they first arrive here

Meet basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing for yourself and your relative.

Make sure your relative does not need social assistance.

Who can you sponsor?

You can only sponsor relatives like a brother, sister, aunt, or uncle in very specific situations.

There are 2 options for who you can sponsor.

Orphaned brother, sister, nephew, niece or grandchild

You can sponsor an orphaned brother, sister, nephew, niece or grandchild only if they meet all of these conditions:

they’re related to you by blood or adoption

both their mother and father passed away

they’re under 18 years of age

they’re single (not married or in a common-law or conjugal relationship)

You can’t sponsor your brother, sister, nephew, niece or grandchild if:

one of their parents is still alive

no one knows where their parents are

their parents abandoned them

someone else other than their parents is taking care of them while one or both their parents are alive

their parent is in jail or otherwise, detained

Other relative

You may sponsor one relative, related by blood or adoption, of any age, if you meet all of these conditions:

you (the person who wants to sponsor your relative) don’t have a living relative you could sponsor instead, such as a:

have a living relative you could sponsor instead, such as a: spouse

common-law partner

conjugal partner

son or daughter

parent

grandparent

orphaned brother or sister

orphaned nephew or niece

orphaned grandchild

you (the potential sponsor) don’t have any relatives (aunt or uncle or any of the relatives listed above), who is a:

Canadian citizen

permanent resident

registered Indian under the Indian Act

If the relative you want to sponsor has a spouse, partner, or dependent children who will come with them to Canada, you must include them on the same sponsorship application.

How to Apply?

There are 2 stages of the process

You apply to sponsor your relative Your relative applies for PR.

Both of the applications need to be sent at the same time in the same application package. The application package includes an instruction guide on how to go about the process, the forms you need to fill out, and the document checklist that helps keep a track of all required documents. You will also need to pay application fees which include processing fees, biometric fees, and right of permanent residence fees. The total fees would be around 1350$. Once the application is ready, you will need to mail the application to the address mentioned in the instruction guide.

Application processing times can take up to a year hence it's extremely important to make sure all documents are proper and ready to avoid delays. You can find the latest processing times here. Sponsors can check the application status anytime using the online tool. If you want to check on your family member’s application status, you must first request to get access to their information. The persons being sponsored can you the same online tool to check the application status.

If the application goes well you will a CoPR (Confirmation of Permanent Residence) which you can use to come to Canada.

If you would like to know more about the Canadian Immigration process and how you can come to Canada, please visit Treknation.ca and sign up for our early app release and to be notified about EE draws.