Canada’s immigration system places family reunification at its heart, recognizing that strong family connections help newcomers build successful lives here. Canadian citizens and permanent residents can bring spouses, children, parents, and other relatives to Canada through family class sponsorship programs.
The application process involves strict eligibility requirements, extensive documentation, and complex legal procedures. Understanding these requirements and preparing your application correctly can mean the difference between approval and refusal.
Our spousal sponsorship lawyer in Toronto guide you through each step of bringing your loved one to Canada. Contact us today.
Family sponsorship allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to help eligible family members obtain permanent residence. Sponsors commit to supporting their relatives financially and ensuring they don’t need social assistance.
The Government of Canada determines sponsor qualifications based on age, residency status, and financial capacity. Sponsors must demonstrate they can meet the basic needs of the person they’re sponsoring for a specified period, which varies by relationship.
Family members who can be sponsored include:
Unsure if your relative qualifies? Contact a family sponsorship lawyer to discuss your specific situation.
To sponsor a family member to Canada, you must meet requirements that demonstrate your ability to support your relative upon arrival. IRCC evaluates sponsors carefully to ensure sponsored individuals won’t require government assistance.
You can act as a sponsor if you:
For parent and grandparent sponsorships, you must meet minimum necessary income requirements for three consecutive taxation years before your application. These income thresholds, updated annually, increase based on the number of people you’re supporting.
The person you’re sponsoring must fall into an eligible family relationship category recognized by IRCC. They must also pass medical examinations, security screenings, and criminal background checks. If your relative has a criminal record or medical condition, additional documentation or legal arguments may be necessary.
Each relationship category has distinct requirements. Spouses must prove their marriage is genuine and not entered into primarily for immigration purposes. Dependent children must meet age and dependency criteria. Parents and grandparents must wait for invitation through the annual intake process.
Spousal sponsorship allows you to bring your married spouse, common-law partner, or conjugal partner to Canada. You can apply through inland sponsorship (if your spouse is in Canada) or outland sponsorship (if your spouse is outside Canada).
Common requirements for spousal sponsorship include proof of your relationship’s genuineness through photographs, correspondence, joint financial documents, and sworn statements from people who know you as a couple.
IRCC scrutinizes applications carefully, particularly for relationships that developed quickly, involve significant age differences, or where previous sponsorship attempts occurred.
For detailed guidance on spousal sponsorship applications, processing times, and documentation requirements, contact our team for a consultation.
Parents can sponsor their biological or adopted children to immigrate to Canada as permanent residents. To qualify as a dependent child, your son or daughter must be under 22 years old without a spouse or common-law partner, or be 22 years or older but have depended substantially on parental financial support since before turning 22 due to a mental or physical condition.
Adopted children can be sponsored if the adoption meets specific requirements. The adoption must have been completed in accordance with the laws of the country where it occurred and must have created a genuine parent-child relationship. You cannot sponsor a child if the adoption’s purpose was primarily to help the child immigrate to Canada.
If you’re sponsoring a child over 22 who remains dependent due to a medical condition, you’ll need comprehensive medical documentation demonstrating their ongoing dependency and inability to provide for themselves.
The Parent and Grandparent Program operates through an invitation system with annual intake limits. IRCC announces when they’ll accept interest to sponsor forms, and invitations to apply are issued randomly from the submitted pool.
This sponsorship category requires sponsors to meet minimum necessary income thresholds for three consecutive taxation years before the application date. The income requirement is 30% higher than other sponsorship categories, reflecting the longer undertaking period (20 years for parents and grandparents, or 10 years in Quebec).
As an alternative to permanent residence sponsorship, the Super Visa allows parents and grandparents to visit Canada for up to five years at a time without renewing their status. This option is faster and doesn’t require meeting the higher income threshold, though it doesn’t provide permanent status or work authorization. The visa itself is valid for up to 10 years with multiple entries.
In limited circumstances, you may sponsor other relatives who don’t fall into standard categories. You can sponsor one relative of any age or relationship if you have no living spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, child, parent, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew who is a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, registered Indian under the Indian Act, or whom you could sponsor.
You may also sponsor orphaned relatives under 18 years old who are your sibling, niece, nephew, or grandchild if both their parents are deceased.
These provisions prevent Canadian citizens and permanent residents from being completely separated from family support, but apply only in specific situations.
Preparing a family sponsorship application requires careful attention to documentation and procedure. Follow these steps to submit a complete application:
Our immigration lawyers can help ensure your application is complete and accurate. Contact us today for assistance with your family sponsorship case.
Processing times for family sponsorship applications vary significantly depending on the relationship category, where your family member applies from, and case complexity. Current processing times as of 2024-2025 include:
Several factors affect processing speed. Incomplete applications, missing documents, or unclear relationship evidence can result in delays. Applications involving inadmissibility concerns (criminal records, medical conditions, previous immigration violations) require more extensive review and may take significantly longer.
Responding promptly to IRCC requests helps prevent unnecessary delays. Ensuring your application is complete, accurate, and well-organized from the start gives you the best chance of straightforward processing.
Delays can be avoided with professional legal help. Reach out to our team today for assistance preparing your family sponsorship application.
Family sponsorship applications fail for preventable reasons more often than applicants realize. Understanding common pitfalls helps you avoid refusals and delays.
Family sponsorship applications involve substantial documentation, strict requirements, and significant consequences if refused. Working with an immigration lawyer provides several advantages.
Our lawyers ensure your application complies with current IRCC requirements and policies, which change frequently. We help you gather appropriate supporting evidence, organize your application effectively, and present your case clearly to maximize approval chances.
If your application involves complications—previous refusals, inadmissibility concerns, complex relationship circumstances, or unclear eligibility—legal guidance becomes particularly valuable. We can prepare legal submissions addressing concerns, respond to procedural fairness letters, and represent you in appeals if necessary.
For cases involving potential inadmissibility due to criminal records, medical conditions, or misrepresentation concerns, having legal representation helps you navigate these issues with strategies tailored to your situation. Our Federal Court litigation experience provides an additional level of support if your case requires judicial review.
Get personalized guidance from a spousal sponsorship lawyer in Toronto. We’ll assess your eligibility, prepare your application, and advocate for your family’s reunification.
Family sponsorship applications represent significant opportunities to reunite with loved ones and build your lives together in Canada. However, the complexity of these applications, the extensive documentation required, and the serious consequences of errors make professional legal guidance valuable for most applicants.
Starting your sponsorship application with proper legal support helps ensure you submit complete, well-organized applications that demonstrate eligibility clearly and address any potential concerns proactively. Whether you’re sponsoring a spouse, child, parent, or other relative, early consultation allows us to assess your situation, identify the best approach, and guide you through each step.
Don’t navigate the Canadian immigration system alone. Contact our immigration law team today to discuss your family sponsorship goals.
Generally, you cannot sponsor siblings unless they’re orphaned, under 18, and both parents are deceased. The only other circumstance is if you have no other living family members (spouse, children, parents, grandparents) who are Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or whom you could sponsor anywhere in the world.
Parent and grandparent sponsors must meet minimum income requirements that are 30% higher than the standard Low Income Cut-Off (LICO). The specific amount depends on the size of your family unit (including yourself, your dependents, and the relatives you’re sponsoring). You must have met this income threshold for three consecutive taxation years before your application date.
Spousal sponsorship doesn’t require you to meet specific income thresholds unless you’re sponsoring a spouse who has dependent children who have dependent children of their own. However, you must not be receiving social assistance for reasons other than disability, and you must demonstrate you can provide for basic needs. If you’re unemployed but have savings or other means of support, you may still qualify.
You can check your application status online through your IRCC account if you applied electronically, or by linking your paper application to an online account. The online portal shows application progress, any requests for additional information, and decisions. Applications may show limited updates during assessment periods.
Canada doesn’t have a specific fiancé visa category. If you and your fiancé haven’t yet married, you should either marry first and then apply for spousal sponsorship, or your fiancé can visit Canada temporarily, you can marry here, and then apply for inland spousal sponsorship. Alternatively, if you’ve been in a relationship for at least one year but cannot marry or live together due to circumstances beyond your control, you may qualify for conjugal partner sponsorship.
