Family reunification is one of the three pillars of CIC’s immigration program. Canadian immigration policy and legislation have a long tradition of supporting family reunification, which permits both recent immigrants and long-established Canadians to be reunited with members of their families.
Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), families living abroad may be sponsored as well as spouses or common-law partners living in Canada with their sponsor.
Eligibility criteria for Family Reunification Programs
Family reunification is one of the main pillars of IRCC’s immigration program. Canada’s immigration policy supports a long tradition of family reunification which allows new immigrants as well as long-established Canadians to be reunited with family members
What are the requirements for the sponsor of a family member?
If you want to sponsor your family member the basic requirements are that:
- You are at least 18 years old
- You are a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen
- You can demonstrate that you can provide financial support to your relative when they are in Canada
- You are or will be living in Canada when your family member becomes a permanent resident (with limited exceptions)
- Who can be sponsored?Under Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) program you may a family member who is a spouses or common law-partner, dependent children, parents and grandparents. In the following sections, the terms spouse is meant to describe both legally married spouses or persons who have been living conjugally together for at least 12 continuous months (called common law partners in Canada). These also include same sex couples.
Spouse/Common law-partner
In Canada, a spousal sponsorship application (to sponsor a spouse or a common law partner) requires that both the sponsor and sponsored person meet specific requirements. At Siminca we can help you determine if such sponsorship is possible. Contact Siminca today and find out how to apply for spousal sponsorship and make your spouse or a common-law partner a permanent resident in Canada with the right to live and work here permanently.
Parent and Grandparent Super Visa
A Super Visa is a multi-entry visa, valid for a period of up to ten years, that allows eligible parents and grandparents to come to Canada to visit their family members and stay for up to two years at a time without the need to renew their status.
There is an important difference between a “regular” multiple entry visa (which may be valid for several years) and a Super Visa: with a multiple entry visa, a visitor cannot stay more than 6 consecutive months in Canada after each entry. If a holder of such a visa wishes to stay longer in Canada without leaving the country they must apply for an extension and pay a new fee. However, with a Super Visa, the visitor is allowed to remain in Canada continuously for up to 2 years at a time.
