Parental Sponsorship
Parents and Grandparents - Sponsorship
On August 20, 2018, the Government of Canada announced improvements to the application intake system for sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents. In 2019, the eligible potential sponsors of parents and grandparents will be able to register their interest to sponsor online through the cic website. Registrants will no longer be selected randomly to submit an application but will be selected to submit an application based on the order in which their interest to sponsor was received. Essentially, this will be a first come, first served intake process. The Government of Canada has also increased the cap for applications that they will accept for processing and will now continue to issue invitations to apply until they have reached the 2019 cap of 20,000 complete applications.
The online registration process should open again in early 2019 but the date has not yet been released, so please keep checking in for updates.
You can sponsor your parents and grandparents if you are 18 years of age or older, living in Canada and are a:
- Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada
- person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act
- meet certain income requirements and can support the person (and their dependants) that you wish to sponsor
The person(s) you wish to sponsor must not be medically or criminally inadmissible.
You may not be eligible to sponsor your parents and grandparents if you:
- are in prison
- defaulted on an immigration loan (late or missed payments)
- have declared bankruptcy and haven’t been released from it yet
- received government financial assistance for reasons other than a disability
- didn’t pay a court-ordered support order, such as alimony or child support
- didn’t provide the financial support you agreed to when you signed a sponsorship agreement to sponsor another relative in the past
- were convicted of a violent criminal offence, any offence against a relative or any sexual offence, depending on circumstances, such as:
- the nature of the offence
- how long ago it occurred
- whether a record suspension (formerly called “pardons” in Canada) was issued
How We Can Help You
We understand how important it is for families to reunite in Canada and we have witnessed first hand the joy that comes from being able to sponsor a parent to come and live in Canada. We can advise on income requirements for the sponsor, application requirements, processing times and options for your parents while processing is ongoing. We can assist you both with the registration process and the application process should you be lucky enough to receive an invitation.