Spousal Sponsorship

If a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident is married to someone who is not a Canadian or Permanent Resident or has lived with someone in this way for at least 12 continuous months (defined as a "common-law couple"), that Canadian or Permanent Resident can sponsor their spouse to become a Permanent Resident. We assist with many of these applications! Our process goes like this:

1. We ensure the sponsor is eligible to sponsor.

2. We ensure the other spouse is eligible to be sponsored.

3. We identify any possible challenges that may arise during processing.

4. We explain how the officer is most concerned with being satisfied that this is a real relationship.

5. We explain the documents needed from each of you, particularly proof of relationship materials.

6. We guide you in telling your relationship story to assist the officer in understanding how you got to this stage.

7. We build the application package and review this with you.

8. We submit the application package.

9. We respond to any follow-up requests from the officer.

10. We stay beside you to the end until the final decision is made!

These kinds of applications are quite different in comparison to the economic applications like Express Entry or with provincial nominees. Those are preoccupied with hard facts like points, age, education, work experience, language ability, etc. The spousal sponsorships are more like art, where the applicant's primary focus is to satisfy the officer that this relationship is genuine. The application package weaves the forms together with the appropriate information, such as the supporting proof of relationship documents and the story—all with the purpose of creating an overall impression for the officer to understand there is no game going on and that this is a real couple wanting to get on with their lives together in Canada.

Dependent Child Sponsorship

You may have attained permanent resident status in the past, and for whatever reason, a child or step-child was shown as a non-accompanying dependent and did not get PR status with the rest of the family. If that child is under 22, not married or living common-law, and declared and examined, you can apply to sponsor that child—just as long as the application is received by IRCC before that child turns 22.

If a child was not examined or declared in your PR application and you attained your PR status via a refugee program or were sponsored in a family class sponsorship (e.g. a spousal sponsorship), you get a second chance to sponsor the child who was not declared or examined. If you attained your PR status through an economic program (e.g. as a provincial nominee or through Express Entry) and you did not declare a child or spouse as a dependent, you do not get a second chance and cannot sponsor them successfully.

The process of submitting a dependent child sponsorship is very similar to the spousal sponsorship process outlined above. The key difference is that the "proof of relationship" materials are not as demanding.

Parent & Grandparent Sponsorship

Unlike the spousal and dependent child sponsorship categories that are always open and accepting applications, the parent and grandparent sponsorship category is an event which opens once every year or two.

As we can only speculate what the future procedure will be, we can only explain what happened in previous rounds and assume that the next round of parent and grandparent sponsorships will be similar.

So, at some point, we expect IRCC will open a portal for interested and eligible sponsors to put their names on a list. This portal will be open for a few days or a few weeks, and then it will close. Thereafter, a draw will be done wherein several thousand lucky sponsors will be invited to sponsor their parents or grandparents (IRCC's goal for 2022 is 25,000 invitations).

When the next announcement is made and you want to participate as a sponsor, be sure you are eligible. If the process remains the same, a sponsor and his/her/their spouse must show that their income was high enough for the past three years for the size of their family—a chart will be provided so sponsors can determine if they are eligible.

We always tell our clients: "Only put your name in the pool if you are eligible. If your income is not high enough for the past three years, do not apply to participate. If you participate and get invited, that application will not be successful, and you have used up a spot that an eligible family would have enjoyed."

We see a lot of confusion regarding understanding family size, which causes many ineligible sponsors to put their names on the list. We will post a blog when a future draw is announced to assist you in calculating the size of the family to inform you of the minimum amount of income needed for each of the past three years.

"Lonely Canadian"

This title is a nickname to identify a situation where a Canadian or permanent resident is:

• all alone in Canada (does not have a spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, uncle, aunt, niece or nephew who is a Canadian citizen, registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act, or a permanent resident of Canada)

AND

• does not have anyone they could potentially sponsor, such as a spouse, child, or parent.

If someone is alone and has no one else they could sponsor, they can sponsor one relative, regardless of age, and that relative's dependants. Note: the sponsor must have sufficient income for the past year for the size of the group (counting the sponsor themselves, the relative to be sponsored, the relative's spouse, and children under 22—everyone in the group).

It is rare to meet someone who satisfies these conditions. However, we meet many people who interpret this category too broadly and apply even though they are not eligible—they are always refused. When they receive the refusal letter, they come to us perplexed, and we explain why this application should have never been submitted.