Sponsor Your Family Member

A permanent resident of Canada, currently residing in Canada, or a Canadian citizen, may sponsor certain family members to come to Canada. The family members that can be sponsored include:

One cannot sponsor their brother or sister. If one’s brother or sister wishes to come to Canada, they must qualify on their own under one of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (Immigration Canada) other permanent residence programs.

In order to be eligible to sponsor a family member, the Sponsor must demonstrate that they: 

  • Are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada; 
  • Are not in prison;
  • Have no history or record of violent crime; 
  • Are financially sufficient and are not an undischarged bankrupt or in receipt of social assistance for a reason other than a disability;
  • Have no record of defaulting on any court-issued support order, previous sponsorship or immigration debt; and
  • They and the foreign national(s) have agreed to the sponsorship, including an undertaking that the Sponsor will provide financial support to the foreign national(s), if necessary, for a set period of time, and that the foreign national(s) will make every reasonable effort to support themselves once in Canada.

If the Sponsor is a Canadian citizen currently residing outside Canada, they must demonstrate that they will be residing in Canada at the time that permanent residence will be granted to their family member. If the Sponsor is a permanent resident of Canada, they must be residing in Canada at the time of, and during the processing of the application.