It keeps family members of those with citizenship or permanent residency holders together. While many people see sponsorship as a tool only available to couples and children, it is actually more comprehensive and allows other family members..

This article seeks to help you understand the sponsorship process and how it applies to different degrees of kinship. All information was taken from official Canadian immigration sources.

What is Sponsorship?

Sponsorship is a tool available to Canadian citizens and permanent residency holders that facilitates the immigration of family members into the country. It is also how families that adopt foreign children seek their citizenship, as well as a way for refugees to enter the country.

Sponsorship is the way through which a person who has permanent ties to Canada indicate that they take responsibility for a person they know during and after the immigration process.

Bringing close family members through sponsorship

First of all, it is important to clarify that you don't have to hire any type of legal representative for this process. However, there are some families who do choose to hire a legal consultant to ease their understanding of it and avoid missing dates and documents.

Using Sponsorship to bring close family members is a starting tool to later secure permanent residency for your spouse, your spouse's dependents, and your dependents. Regardless of whether the family members live in Canada or in another country.

As a citizen or permanent resident, you must first sign an undertaking to commit to provide financial support for the basic needs of those who are applying for permanent residency in Canada.

The undertaking is a document that is not canceled even in an eventual separation. It is valid even after the sponsored person has obtained their own citizenship.

It can be cancelled, but only before permanent residency is approved. It has a natural expiration date, which is 3 years for sponsorship of spouses and dependents older than 22 years of age, and 10 years for dependents under 22.

You cannot sign a spouse's undertaking if a previous spouse's undertaking is still valid. Besides that, the citizen signing the undertaking must be at least 18 years of age and residing in Canada during the process.

You must prove that you are able to provide for your own basic needs, those of your spouse, and those of your dependents. Otherwise, the Department of Immigration may refuse to accept your application as a sponsor.

If you want to use the sponsorship to obtain permanent citizenship for a spouse or dependents while living outside Canada, you must prove that you have the intention to live in the country after the process ends.

Permanent residents who obtained a visa after 2012 must have resided in Canada for at least 5 years before signing an undertaking.

Sponsorship for adopted children

The authorization resulting from this process is almost automatic. The child can obtain permanent residency as soon as the person or couple who is adopting starts the adoption process in the child’s country of origin. However, the citizenship process is only started after the child's arrival in Canada, and it can only be completed after the adoption is confirmed.

Sponsorship for parents and grandparents

For the process of sponsorship with parents and grandparents, the people who will be sponsored must be eligible. To verify eligibility, the Department of Immigration may request a number of documents, including medical and criminal history.

To use sponsorship for couples, it is possible to name one of them as the holder of the request and the other as a dependent. The couple's children can be listed as dependents only if they qualify as dependent children, which basically means that they must be under 21 and not married.

The sponsorship process for parents and grandparents involves a declaration of interest within a period of opportunity that occurs every year. After the declaration of interest, some families are invited to participate in the process and they have until the end of the year to start it.

Sponsorship for refugees

Sponsorship can also be used to facilitate the entry of political and war refugees into Canada. The person interested in being the sponsor can select a refugee from a list that has been pre-approved by the Canadian government and sign an undertaking.

If you opt for this program, as a sponsor, you are responsible for providing a monthly allowance for the refugee's basic needs; an initial amount for them to buy clothes and furniture; and help for them to find social and emotional support in Canada.

The support period normally lasts up to 1 year, although nothing prevents the sponsor from continuing to support the refugee after this period.