Family Sponsorship

Dependent Child Sponsorship

If you are a Canadian Citizen or a Permanent Resident of Canada, you may sponsor your dependent biological to Canada. Upon approval of your sponsorship application, your child will become a Permanent Resident and can attend school, receive health care, work (if applicable) and apply for citizenship after three years of living in Canada.

Your child could be eligible for sponsorship if you they meet the following definition of a dependent child:

A dependent Child is less than 22 years of age and is not a spouse or common-law partner,
If the child is 22 years of age or older, they must satisfy that they have been financially dependent on their parents since before age 22 and is unable to be financially self-supporting due to a physical or mental disability

To sponsor your dependent child, you must promise to finically take care of your dependent child for a specific period of time. In addition, you become responsible for providing financial support when the person you sponsor becomes a permeant resident.

The length of the undertaking for all provinces (except Quebec):

Dependent child (biological or adopted) or child to be adopted in Canada under 22 years of age: 10 years, or until age 25, whichever comes first
Dependent child 22 years of age or older: 3 years

Brother, Sister, Nephew, Niece or Grandchild

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

An Adopted Child

If you are a Canadian Citizen or a Permanent Resident of Canada, you may sponsor your adopted child to Canada. Upon approval of your sponsorship application, your child will become a Permanent Resident and can attend school, receive health care, work (if applicable) and apply for citizenship after three years of living in Canada.

To be eligible for this program the following conditions have to be met:

The sponsor and sponsored person must be able to prove their relationship whether the child is adopted.
The Canadian citizen/permanent resident sponsor and the sponsored child must be approved by the Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to receive a visa.
The child to be adopted can be adopted inside or outside of Canada.
In case the adoption is in the final phase the sponsor may apply for sponsorship until the adoption is finalized.
The sponsor must be able to prove that he/she can take care of the adopted child
The sponsor became a permanent residence at least 5 years ago.
The sponsored person must be at least 16 years of age

Other Relatives

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:
- 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.