If you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, age 18 or over, you can sponsor certain family members to become Canadian permanent residents. If you become a permanent resident, you can live, study and work in Canada. If you sponsor a relative to come to Canada as a permanent resident, you are responsible for supporting your relative financially when he or she arrives.

​You can sponsor your:

  • Spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner

  • Dependent child (or child you plan to adopt): must be 21 and younger

  • Parents and Grandparents: father, mother, grandfather or grandmother

  • Orphaned  Relatives: brother, sister, nephew, niece, grandson or granddaughter, who are orphaned, under the age of 18, and not married or in a common-law relationship

  • Other relative:  *only Lonely Canadians are eligible to sponsor (have no other family living in Canada)

Basic requirements for family sponsorship

To be a sponsor:

  • You must be 18 years of age or older

  • You and the sponsored relative must sign a sponsorship agreement that commits you to provide financial support for your relative, if necessary. This agreement also says the person becoming a permanent resident will make every effort to support her or himself

  • You must provide financial support for a spouse, common-law or conjugal partner for three years from the date they become a permanent resident

  • You must provide financial support for a dependent child for 10 years, or until the child turns 25, whichever comes first