Family Visa for Canada from Nigeria

Overview

To be eligible for the Family visa, you must meet the Canada family visa requirements from Nigeria. One of the following must apply to you:

• You are their spouse or partner.
• You are their dependent child.
• You are their parent or grandparent.

Family visa for a Common Law Partner or Spouse

If you are the common law partner, spouse or conjugal partner of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you may be eligible for the Canadian family visa.

But for your partner to sponsor you, they must be at least 18, show that they can provide for you and prove that there is a genuine relationship between you two.

Your partner can sponsor you for the family visa whether you are still in Nigeria (outland application) or already on a temporary permit in Canada (inland application). If you are already in Canada, you can apply for an open work permit while waiting for the sponsorship application to be approved.

Family visa for a Dependent Child

If you are the dependent child of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you are eligible to be sponsored by your parent. You can be their natural, adopted or stepchild.

For you to be seen as a dependent, you must be unmarried and under 22 years old. The IRCC also considers children above 22 but with mental or physical deformities as dependents.

Family visa for a Parent or Grandparent via the Parents and Grandparents Program

If you are the parent or grandparent of a Canadian Citizen or permanent resident, you can immigrate to Canada from Nigeria via the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP).

To be eligible for the PGP, your child (sponsor) must:

• Be 18 years or older.
• Prove the relationship between you two. Your child can prove this by submitting their birth certificate which bears your name.
• Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
• Meet the Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) that the IRCC requires for their family size. They will prove this by submitting assessment notices issued by the Canada Revenue Agency.
• Sign an undertaking to care for you for 20 years. If they cannot do so alone, their partner can help cosign this undertaking to meet the financial requirement. If their partner is cosigning, they will show proof that they have been in a relationship for at least one year.

If your child or grandchild lives in Quebec, they may need to meet additional requirements.

Super Visa Route for Parents and Grandparents

If you are the parent or grandparent of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you can immigrate from Nigeria to Canada via the super visa route.

To be eligible for this visa, your sponsor (child or grandchild) has to:

• Submit a motivation letter to the IRCC.
• Be medically insured.
• Prove that they are your child or grandchild.
• Meet the minimum financial requirement.

Overview

If you want to move from Nigeria to Canada via the family visa route, your sponsor (partner, child or grandchild) will have to prove to the IRCC that they meet the minimum necessary income. This shows that they can care for you when you go over to Canada.

How much income they are required to show depends on family size. For example, if your sponsor is bringing you alone to Canada, they have to show that they have $32,000, an income for a family of two. Therefore, for every family member under 18, an extra $2,404 is needed. For every extra family member above 18, an additional $8,610 is required.

If your sponsor lives in Quebec, they have to show that they have $34,086 if they intend to sponsor you alone. For every extra family member under 18, they have to show an extra $4,619. For every family member above 18, they have to show an additional $8,740.

Sponsorship Undertaking

In addition to showing proof of income, your family member in Canada will have to sign an undertaking to be financially responsible for you. This undertaking is valid for the years the IRCC requires them to sponsor you. How long they have to sponsor you is dependent on the category of family member they’re sponsoring.

• If you are a dependent child, they must take care of you until you turn 25 or for 10 years, depending on which comes first.
• If you are a partner, they’ll have to take care of you for 3 years.
• If you are a dependent child who is 22 or above, they’ll have to take care of you for 3 years.
• If you are a parent/grandparent, they’ll have to take care of you for 20 years.

If they live in Quebec, the number of years they’ll have to sign to care for you is slightly different.

• If you are a dependent child under 16, they will sign to take care of you for 10 years or until you turn 18.
• If you are a dependent child 16 and above, they will sign to take care of you for 3 years or till you turn 25.
• If you are their partner, they will sign up to take care of you for 3 years.

Note that if you take government assistance during these periods, your sponsor must pay it back. Also, note that your sponsor is still mandated to keep by this rule whether your status changes or not. So, even if you eventually become a citizen or permanent resident, they must still fulfil their obligation.

Application Steps for the Sponsor

Your sponsor is the one who will take the first step towards your application. First, they must apply to the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). If they live in Quebec, their application should go to the Ministry of Immigration, Francization and Integration (MIFI).

While your sponsor is submitting an application for you, they must also apply for you to be a  permanent resident at once. The IRCC or MIFI will review the application and decide if you and your family member are eligible for the family visa sponsorship.

If the application is successful, they will be required to pay the Canadian family visa fees on your behalf. After paying the fees, you can now proceed to apply for the family visa in Nigeria.

Your sponsor can track the application after receiving an acknowledgement of receipt from IRCC.

Application Steps for the Sponsored

After your sponsor has paid the visa fees on your behalf, you can now apply for a Canadian visa either offline or online in Nigeria. To apply offline, you will have to do the following:

• Download the checklist, Canadian Family Form 5645 and Visitor Form IMM 5257.
• Fill out the forms on the computer and then print them out.
• Get an appointment for your biometric capture and form submission.
• Get the VFS consent form and fill it out.
• Pay your fees to the Canadian submission centre either in Abuja or Lagos.
• Pay the service charge and get a tracking number that will be instrumental in checking the progress of your application.

If you want to submit the application online, do the following:

• Go to the Canada Immigration and Citizenship website and apply.
• Upload all the scan copies of the required documents.
• Pay the required fees.
• Print out the final application page, as you will have to show that at the Canadian Visa Center during your biometric capture.

You can track their application by getting your application number, creating an account online and linking your application to the account.

Also, note that you have to submit your biometrics within 30 days after the biometric capture fee is paid. If you cannot submit your biometrics in 30 days due to the high demand for biometric capture appointments, you will be granted another 60 days to submit.