Family Class Overview
Family reunification is one of the main pillar of the Canadian immigration law. Under family class, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident can sponsor one or more of his family members. The family member that can be sponsors depends on the relationship with the Canadian citizen or permanent resident and/or financial ability of the sponsor.
A Canadian citizen or permanent resident can sponsor one or more of the following family members:
- Spouse, common law partner or conjugal partner
- Depended children
- Children intended for adaption
- Parents, grandparents and their depended children
- Brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces who are orphaned, under 18, and who are not a spouse or a common law partner
- Any relative, if the sponsor is alone in Canada and has non of the above to sponsor(lonely Canadian)
Family Class Free Assessment
General eligibility criteria
The family sponsorship application includes two stages:
- The sponsor’s application: there is a separate application and eligibility requirements to be approved as a sponsor. In addition, each sponsorship program has specific requirements that have to be met for the sponsor to be approved for the sponsorship.
- The permanent resident application: the foreign national must satisfy certain requirements to be granted a permanent resident status
Generally, the sponsor must:
- Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
- Be at least 18 years old
- Reside in Canada (see exception below)
Reside in Canada requirements
Generally, the sponsor must reside in Canada in order to be approved as a sponsor for a family member. One exception is when the sponsor is residing outside Canada and applying to sponsor his spouse, common law partner, or conjugal partner and satisfy the immigration officer that he will resume resident in Canada when the sponsored person become a permanent resident.