If you are a Canadian citizen or a Permanent Resident of Canada, and your family is not residing with you, there’s an opportunity for you to reunite with them if you qualify as a sponsor. This is one of the principles supported by the Canadian immigration law. The legal question here is:

1. Are you eligible to be a sponsor?
2. Are your relative’s eligible to be considered in the family member class?

Let’s shed some light on both questions briefly here:

Am I Eligible to Sponsor a Family Member?

In order to be eligible to sponsor for a family member, the following elements are usually examined:

• Your Age: You should be at least 18 years old
• Your Status: You must be either a Canadian citizen, a person registered in Canada as an Indian, or a permanent resident living in Canada
  • If you are a Canadian citizen who is living outside Canada, you must show that you plan to live in Canada when your sponsored relative becomes a permanent resident
  • If you are a permanent resident living outside Canada, you simply cannot sponsor any of your relatives unless you come back and settle down in Canada
• Financial Status:
  • You must be able to prove that you are not receiving any social assistance (for reasons other than disability)
  • You will also need to prove that you have enough income for the basic needs of your children and any dependent children of a dependent child

When Am I NOT Eligible to be a Sponsor?

There are specific cases that would prohibit an individual from being considered eligible to sponsor a relative. Those cases are specifically the following:

• If you have failed to pay an immigration loan, a performance bond or family support payments
• If you have failed to provide for the basic needs of a previously-sponsored relative who received social assistance
• If you are under a removal order
• If you are in penitentiary, jail, reformatory or prison
• If you are receiving social assistance for a reason other than a disability
• If you are still going through the process of bankruptcy
• If you were sponsored by a spouse or partner and you became a permanent resident less than five years ago
• If you have sponsored a previous spouse or partner and three years have not passed since this person became a permanent resident
• If you have already applied to sponsor your current spouse, partner or child and a decision on your application hasn’t been made yet
• If you were convicted of a violent or sexual offence or an offence that caused bodily harm to a relative, or you attempted or threatened to commit any of these offences

Is My Relative Eligible as a Family Member Class?

On the other hand of eligibility, when addressing family sponsorship, you need to ensure your relative qualifies as a family member. This carries a basic question, Who are my Family Members?

Immediate family members are

• Spouse
• Common-law partner
• Conjugal partner
• Dependent child

Non-immediate family members will be discussed in an upcoming article.

Each of the immediate family members mentioned above should also qualify through some criteria, which we will explain here

• In order to sponsor a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner, he or she should be at least 18 years old.
• Your relationship must be genuine (real) and wasn’t entered into just to get permanent residence status in Canada
• If you are sponsoring children, you must submit a complete set of application forms and documents for each child separately

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