Family Reunification Class Immigration
Some of your relatives may be eligible to immigrate to Canada as permanent residents.
If you have relatives who want to immigrate to Canada under the Family Reunification Class:
Sponsoring an eligible relative
You can sponsor certain relatives if you’re 18 years of age or older and a:
- Canadian citizen or
- person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Actor
- permanent resident of Canada
You must live in Canada to sponsor eligible relatives unless you:
- are a Canadian citizen who lives abroad and
- plan to return to Canada when your relatives immigrate and
- are sponsoringyour:
- spouse or
- common-law or conjugal partner or
- dependent children who have no dependent children
- If you live in Quebec, you must also meet Quebec’s conditions to be a sponsor after we approve you as a sponsor. This includes signing an “undertaking” with the province. This is a contract that binds your sponsorship.
- Your responsibilities
Who isn’t eligible to sponsor a relative
You may not be able to sponsor a relative if you:
- are in prison
- have not paid your alimony or child support payments
- have declared bankruptcy and haven’t been released from it yet
- got social assistance for reasons other than being disabled
- didn’t pay back an immigration loan, made late payments or missed payments
- sponsored another relative in the past and didn’t meet the terms of the sponsorship agreement were convicted of a violent crime, any offence against a relative or any sexual offence, depending on details of the case, such as:
- the type of offence
- how long ago it was
- whether a record suspensionwas issued (formerly called “pardons” in Canada)
- Other things not on this list may stop you from being able to sponsor a relative.
- Who you can sponsor
Depending on your circumstances, there are two options for who you can sponsor
Option 1: orphaned close relatives
You can sponsor close relatives only if they meet all conditions. This means they must be:
- orphaned
- under 18
- without a:
- spouse
- conjugal partner
- common-law partner
- related to you by blood or adoption, such as:
- brothers or sisters
- nephews or nieces
- grandchildren
Option 2: other relative
You may sponsor one relative, related by blood or adoption, of any age if you meet all of the conditions, including:
- you don’t have a living relative you could sponsor instead, such as a:
- spouse
- common-law partner
- conjugal partner
- son or daughter
- parent
- grandparent
- brother or sister
- uncle or aunt
- nephew or niece
- you don’t have any of the above-named relatives who is:
- a Canadian citizen
- a permanent resident
- registered Indian under the Indian Act
- If the relative you want to sponsor has a spouse, partner, or dependent children who will come with them to Canada you must include them on the same sponsorship application.