Family Class
As a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, you can sponsor a family member to Canada under the Family Class sponsorship. The sponsor must pass the financial eligibility criteria stipulated by immigration Canada which is region and family-size specific.
- Spouse (16 years old or older).
- Conjugal / Common-law Partner (16 years old or older).
- Parents/Grandparents.
- Dependent children, including adopted children.
- Children under the age of 18 whom the sponsor intends to adopt.
- Brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, or grandchildren who are orphans, under the age of 18 and unmarried or not in a common-law relationship.
- Any other relative if the sponsor has none of the above family members either in Canada or abroad.
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Family Class provides for equal treatment under the law for common-law couples of the same or opposite sex by expanding the family class to include the term "common-law partner". Under new regulations, same sex partners can also apply under the Family class.
Under the Family Class category, the definition of Common-law partner is a person who is living in a conjugal relationship with another person for a period of at least the preceediong twelve months before the application is submitted. A Conjugal partner is a person residing outside Canada who have maintained with another person a conjugal relationship for at least twelve months prior to the application, but have not cohabited with each other.
An individual in a conjugal relationship for at least one year of a person, but who is unable to cohabit with the person, due to persecution or any form of penal control, may be considered as a common-law partner of that person.
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A dependent son or daughter is either:
- Under the age of 22 and not a spouse or common-law partner; or,
- Have depended substantially on the financial support of a parent and have been continuously enrolled and in attendance as full-time students in a post secondary institution accredited by the relevant government authority since before the age of 22 (or since becoming a spouse or a common-law partner, if they married or entered into a common-law relationship before the age of 22); or,
- Have depended substantially on the financial support of a parents since before the age of 22 and unable to provide for themselves due to a medical condition.
A family class application is initiated by the Canadian citizen or permanent resident by signing an Undertaking of Support inside Canada.
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