Eligibilities for Canada Family Immigration/Canada Sponsored Visa

Only Canadian citizens or residents with the following criteria can apply for family immigration to Canada under dependent visa category.

• Applicant for Canada family immigration should be above 18 years old
• Applicant for Canada family immigration should be staying in Canada
• Applicant for Canada family immigration should be willing to sponsor/support their spouse/partner or relatives for a period of 3 to 10 years.
• Applicant for Canada family immigration will be responsible for supporting their family and relatives financially and must ensure that they do not seek any kind of financial assistance from the Canadian government

Process for Sponsoring family under Canada Family Immigration/Dependent Visa

Canada Family Immigration allows sponsor for family immigration to Canada in 2 ways. They are:

• Spouse, common-law partner and/or dependent children
• Qualified relatives

Spouse, common-law partner and/or dependent children

Canadian citizens or residents can bring their spouse, dependent children, common-law partner or conjugal partner to Canada as permanent residents.  The sponsored applicants can apply for Canada Family Immigration either when they are staying in Canada or outside Canada.

The sponsor as well as his/her family or relative is expected to meet certain requirements to avail the Canada Family Immigration or Dependent Visa.

Sponsor for the Canada Family Migration should meet specified income requirements. If any of your sponsored relatives have any time avail any kind of monetary or fund assistance, you will not be permitted to sponsor more family members/relatives or spouses.

Eligibility Criteria for a Sponsor

• The sponsor for a Canada Family Immigration should be a Canadian Citizen or permanent resident and should be above 18 years of age
• The sponsor and the sponsored both need to sign a sponsorship agreement stating that the sponsor will provide full financial support to the sponsored relative if needed. This agreement also states that the sponsored person after becoming a permanent resident will make substantial and noticeable effort to support him/herself
• Sponsor needs to provide financial assistance to a spouse, common-law for 3 years from the time they become a PR of Canada
• Sponsor needs to provide financial support to a dependent child for 10 years, or until the child becomes 25
• If the sponsor stays/resides in Quebec province, then he/she needs to meet Quebec’s immigration sponsorship requirement, after Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) accepts you as a sponsor.

Eligibility Criteria for Spouse

A person can migrate under Canada Family Migration as a spouse or partner if only he/she is married to their sponsor and the marriage is valid officially.

• If the marriage has taken pace in Canada, applicant for Canada Family Migration needs to submit a marriage certificate issued by the state authority where the marriage was held
• If the applicant for Canada Family Migration has married outside Canada, then the marriage should be valid under the law of the country where it occurred and also under Canadian law. Marriages that have been in an embassy or consulate should be as per the law of the country where the event took place.

Sponsoring same-sex partner as a spouse

1. Canadian citizens and permanent residents can submit their duly filled applications to sponsor their same-sex partner as a spouse, if the marriage was held in Canada and the couple have been issued a marriage certificate by a Canadian state on or after these below dates:

• British Columbia (on or after July 8, 2003)
• Manitoba (on or after September 16, 2004)
• New Brunswick (on or after July 4, 2005)
• Newfoundland and Labrador (on or after December 21, 2004)
• Nova Scotia (on or after September 24, 2004)
• Ontario (on or after June 10, 2003)
• Quebec (on or after March 19, 2004)
• Saskatchewan (on or after November 5, 2004)
• Yukon (on or after July 14, 2004)
• All other provinces or territories (on or after July 20, 2005).

2. If the Canada family migration applicant has married outside Canada, he/she can apply to sponsor their same-sex partner as a spouse. This is only applicable for marriages that is lawfully accepted and is according to the law of the marriage place and also should be under Canadian law.

Common-law partner

Canadian citizens and permanent residents can sponsor their common-law partner and dependent children while staying in Canada. Applicants who have been living with their qualifying Canadian partners for a minimum period of 1 year or more in a continuing relationship can be sponsored under Canada family immigration visa. The partners need to prove that they are in a genuine and continuing relationship and should have stayed together for 1 year at a common address.

Both the sponsor and partner should intend to stay together in Canada and an undertaking should be submitted by the sponsor that he/she will be supporting the applicant financially for a period of 3 years from the time the partner arrives in Canada.

Conjugal partner

Sponsored applicants who have been in an ongoing relationship with their Canadian partner, but have been unable to reside together at a common address with their Canadian partner due to exceptional situations, can also be sponsored for Canada Family Immigration visa.

Eligibility to apply as a conjugal partner is:

Canada family migration applicant must have maintained a conjugal relationship with their sponsor for a minimum of 1 year and have been unable to stay together or marry because of:

• Barrier due to immigration
• Canada family migration applicant’s marital status (for example he/she is married to someone else and is residing in a country where divorce is not accepted and is impossible) or
• Canada family migration applicant’s sexual orientation (for example he/she is in a same-sex relationship and same-sex marriage is not accepted where they live)
• Canada family migration applicant can provide sufficient proofs that there were valid reasons for not staying together (for example they were refused long-term residing in each other’s country).
• The sponsor to the dependent or sponsored visa applicant should submit a document stating that he/she will support the applicant financially for a period of 3 years from the time the partner arrives in Canada.

A person is not eligible to apply as a conjugal partner if:

• The sponsor and the dependent visa applicant could have stayed together but chose not to. This situation indicates that they did not have the level of trust and commitment that is required for a conjugal relationship. (Ex: one among them may not have wanted to leave their employment or study, or their relationship was not yet that strong where they were ready to live together.)
• If they are unable to furnish any kind of proof stating their reason for not staying together
• If both the Canadian family migration applicant and the sponsor are engaged to get married, they can either apply as a spouse after the marriage or also can apply as a common-law partner if continuous together stay was for 12 months.

Dependent children

Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada can file an application to sponsor their or partner's dependent/ adopted children for Canada family migration visa. The child either son or daughter can be declared as a dependent only if:

• Canadian family migration applicant should be below 22 years old
• The dependent visa applicant should not have a spouse or common-law partner
• Canadian family migration applicant should be a full-time student and is fully dependent on either of the parent for financial assistance since before the age of 22 or is financially dependent on a parent before the age of 22 due to a mental or physical disability

Relationships not eligible for Canadian family Migration visa/Dependent Visa/Sponsored Visa

A dependent visa applicant would not be eligible to be sponsored either as a spouse or a common-law partner or a conjugal partner if:

• Canadian family migration applicant is below 16 years of age
• Canadian family migration applicant or the sponsor was married to someone during their marriage
• Both the sponsor and the applicant have not stayed together for continuous 1 year
• Sponsor and the Canada family migration applicant are the common-law or conjugal partner of another person
• Sponsor for Canadian family migration applicant has migrated to Canada and, at the time permanent residency was applied for, he/she was a family member who should have been assessed on their eligibility of the immigration requirements, but were not assessed
• You can sponsor a person only after your first sponsor applicant completes 3 years of stay in Canada
• If the Canadian citizen or Canada permanent residency holder is sponsoring for a group of people like his/her spouse and dependent children, then submit all the applications for Canadian family migration at the same time.  Sponsorship and permanent residency application must be filed at the same time.
• If your partner staying in Canada is unable to sponsor you, partner/dependant can apply to stay in Canada under humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Other Eligible Relatives

The family class program allows the permanent resident of Canada or the Canadian citizen to sponsor certain relatives like their parents or grandparents. Sponsor and the relative who is willing to migrate to Canada must adhere to certain requirements.

A Canadian resident or a citizen of Canada can sponsor the below mentioned relatives or family members.

• Parents
• Grandparents
• Siblings, grandchildren, nephews or nieces. These relatives either should be orphaned or under 18 years of age and should not be married or in any type of common-law relationship
• You can file Canada family migration visa for children adopted outside Canada or intended to be adopted inside the country
• You can sponsor any family member regardless of age, only if there is no spouse, common-law or conjugal partner, son, daughter, mother, father, sibling, grandparents, uncle, aunt, niece or nephew who is a Canadian citizen or a registered Indian or permanent resident or whom you may sponsor.
• You can file application for Canada Family migration visa for relatives who will accompany you like your spouse, common-law or conjugal partner and dependent children.
• Relatives over the age of 18 cannot be sponsored but they can get additional points for adaptability if they qualify to migrate under the Skilled Worker Class.

Parental and Grandparental

• Parents and grandparents can be sponsored under Canada family migration visa if they are able to prove their relationship.
• The sponsor should ensure that he/she stays in Canada.
• The dependent visa applicant should stay with the sponsor and the sponsor should be capable of providing full financial support to his/her relative.
• The sponsor should not access the public funds to support his/her family.
• Sponsor should be financially sound and he/she needs to sign an undertaking stating that he/she will provide financial support for the applicants for 10 years from the date the applicant arrives in Canada.

Relatives

• Canadian citizens and permanent residents living in Canada can sponsor one relative regardless of age or relationship, if the Canadian sponsor does not have any relatives who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents or any other relative who may be sponsored under the family category.

• The Canadian sponsor must provide evidence of sufficient income and must also sign an undertaking to provide for all of the applicant's needs for a specified period of time.

Benefits

Sponsored family members and relatives are granted permanent residence under the Canadian Family Class or Canada family immigration. Dependant visa applicants will have the right to live, work and study in Canada indefinitely.

This is not a point’s based category, but both the sponsor and the Canada family immigration applicant are required to meet specific requirements set by the Government.

Family members who come to Canada under a Canada family immigration visa can work without any hindrances and can avail language training classes and programs and job search assistance for finding a suitable employment.

Permanent residents will have unrestricted access to government-funded healthcare and is entitled to subsidized education and other social care benefits such as Canada Pension Plan Benefits, Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement.

After 3 years of stay in the country, the applicant will be entitled to receive Canadian citizenship (on fulfillment of certain requirements).

Sponsorship Agreement

A sponsorship agreement is signed by both the sponsor and the Canada family immigration applicant. Sponsor should declare in the agreement that he will support his sponsored his/her relative or dependent for an agreed duration of time financially without any utilization of public funds.

Both the sponsored and the sponsor should support each other. This is not required if the Canada family immigration visa holder is an elderly relative.

Visa Fee

1.    The processing fee which must be included with your application

2.    The Right of Permanent Residence Fee, which will be requested by the Visa Office at a later stage if your application is approved.

Additional fees

You must also pay for the following for yourself and your family members (if applicable):

Medical examinations

Police certificates

Language assessments

Disclaimer: Visa fees are subjected to change without prior notice

Fees, Costs & Refund Policy

Opulentus is a visa and immigration consultant and offers world class services and best guidance for immigration. It offers all its services at very competitive and best service fees. Our state-of-the-art Processing Centre processes over 5000 active cases at any given time from across the world. Opulentus offers best service in documentation and our processes are standard & process immigration consultants are the best in the world.

Our service charges are standard and same across all our offices. We guarantee that you will be quoted a nominal and affordable price for the high class service we offer. Prices are determined by the company & are fixed for all offices, clients & cases irrespective of the place, religion, gender or class. Be assured of giving the right and best price for all our products across all our branches– at par with all our 10000+ clients around the world.

OPULENTUS Duties

Opulentus offers advice and guidance for best possible documentation. We assist and guide you at each step till you get your visa.

• Expert advice on complete process stage wise
• Visa documentation*
• Provide you the document checklist stage-wise and assisting you with the requisites and the alternatives upon receiving the signed service agreement copy
• Provide documents samples and assist you with inputs wherever necessary
• Corresponding with the department, on your behalf, if required
• Post landing, traveling and settling assistance

Post Landing & Resettlement Services

Once the client receives his/her Canada Federal Skilled Worker Visa to migrate to Canada as a skilled worker, Opulentus offers services for smooth travel and stay.

• Complete orientation on relocation
• Job search assistance ( additional cost)
• Accommodation and travel assistance
• Pick up at Airport – extra charges
• Information on various Indian communities
• Tips on how to settle and socialize with local crowd

Country Profile

Skilled professionals already staying in Canada can bring their spouses/family and relatives under Canada family immigration visa. The sponsored applicant for Canada family immigration visa can apply for citizenship at later stage. Canada is a land of opportunities and offers world class facilities and benefits for your family and relatives.

Some of the major factors that motivates Canadian PRs and citizens of Canada to bring their dependents here are

• Enviable standard of lifestyle
• Negligible crime rate
• World class health care systems and facilities
• Eligible to work and stay in a developed country
• Entitled to Government subsidized education
• Access to social care benefits such as Canada Pension Plan Benefits
• Pathway to Canadian citizenship (under fulfillment of certain requirements) after 3 years of stay