Family Sponsorship: Sponsor a Spouse, Partner, or Dependent Child

Family Sponsorship: Sponsor a Spouse, Partner, or Dependent Child

At Haghani Law Office we help with bringing families together. Our immigration lawyers and experienced legal professionals can help you with sponsoring your spouse or partner, dependent children, parents or grandparents to Canada. Under the Family Class category, the Spouse, Common-Law, Conjugal Partner or Dependent Child sponsorship application allows you to sponsor such family members with the result of obtaining permanent resident status for them.

Who can sponsor a spouse or dependent child? A Canadian Citizen, Registered Indian or Permanent Resident of Canada who is 18 plus can sponsor their dependent child or children, spouse, common-law partner who lives in Canada or overseas and their dependent children. If you are a permanent resident living outside of Canada you cannot sponsor. If you are a Canadian Citizen living abroad you can sponsor a spouse, partner, or dependent child but you must show that you will live in Canada when the sponsored person becomes a permanent resident. The sponsor must show that they can provide basic needs of themselves and sponsored individuals.

Who can you sponsor? A married spouse (including same-gender marriages), common-law partner with whom you have lived for at least 12 consecutive months, or a conjugal partner with whom you lived for at least one year, can be sponsored so long as the sponsored spouse or partner is 18 years of age or older. Therefore, you may be able to sponsor your fiancé as long as they meet the pertinent definition. You can also sponsor your dependent child or children who live outside Canada, are under 22 years of age (if over 22 you must show that they have depended on their parents since before age of 22 and are unable to support themselves due to a mental or physical condition), and do not have a spouse or common-law partner of their own.

Are your spouses, common-law partners and children required to provide medical exams? Yes, they are. They must meet the eligibility requirements of medical exams and biometrics.

Is there any income requirement for spousal and dependent children sponsorship? To sponsor your spouse or partner, or dependent child, you are not required to meet income requirements in most cases. However, if your dependent child has a dependent child of their own or your spouse or partner has a child, and the said child also has a dependent child of his or her own, it is required to meet the income requirements.

Sponsor’s obligations: the sponsoring spouse will sign a promise (undertaking) to ensure basic needs of the spouse, partner, or child/children, such as food, shelter, clothing and everyday cost of living are met. Basic needs also includes healthcare services that are not covered by OHIP. If the people you sponsor ask government for financial help, such as social assistance through Ontario Works (welfare) the sponsor will have to pay back what the person or persons you sponsored received.

If you sponsored a spouse or partner before, gave an undertaking to ensure their basic needs, and it has not been three years since they became a permanent resident, or if you have not paid back social assistance they received while your promise to ensure basic needs was in place, you may not be able to sponsor a new person. Similarly, if you are an undischarged bankrupt or have a criminal conviction (certain crimes), or are serving a sentence in jail or prison, you may not be able to sponsor.

For how long must a sponsor support a sponsored spouse or dependent? Typically your promise to government to ensure basic needs is for 3 years from the day the sponsored person becomes a permanent resident but if you are sponsoring a dependent child under age of 22, length of your undertaking is increased to 10 years or until the child becomes 25, whichever occurs first.

What happens if your spousal sponsorship application is successful? If the sponsored spouse or partner lives in Canada they will become Permanent Residents. If they live outside of Canada, Canadian immigration authorities will issue a Canada Spouse Visa to them and they will become a permanent resident of Canada once they arrive to Canada.

How long does the process take? Presuming that your application is completed correctly and comprehensively by the capable lawyers and legal professionals at Haghani Law Office, you can expect the whole process to take about 12 months. Keep in mind that your particular circumstance can lead to a longer processing time. The following is a link to help you to see the estimated processing time. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html

What are some of the reasons why you may not be allowed to sponsor your family?

• you don’t live in Canada when the sponsored person becomes a permanent resident;
• you do not have enough money to support the sponsored persons;
• if another person sponsored you and you became a permanent resident less than five years ago, and now you intend to sponsor your spouse or partner;
• you still owe financial responsibility to your previous spouse or partner that you sponsored;
• you are in jail, prison, or a penitentiary;
• you have not paid an immigration loan, a performance bond, or a court-ordered family support payment;
• you failed to give the financial support you agreed to when you signed a sponsorship agreement for someone else in the past;
• you were convicted of some specific crimes;
• you are required to leave Canada due to an effective Removal Order.