Canada Family Visas

Family Sponsorship is a program intended for those who are already in Canada and who wish to sponsor their family members from the UK or other countries to come to join them. If their application dependent child and family sponsorship programs is successful, their British relatives can settle in Canada as permanent residents.

Under this program, Canadian citizens or permanent residents can sponsor their spouses and partners, dependent children, parents and grandparents, siblings, and nieces or nephews.

To be able to become sponsors Canadian citizens or permanent residents have to meet the following requirements:

• Be a Canadian citizen, Canadian permanent resident, or a person registered under the Canadian Indian Act
• Be at least 18 years old
• Live in Canada
• Have enough funds to offer financial support to the sponsored family member
• Not have declared bankruptcy
• Not be in debt
• Not be serving a prison sentence
• Not be receiving social assistance unless it’s for a disability
• Be related to the sponsored individual
• Have received an invitation to apply to become a sponsor for a family member
• Be willing to commit to providing financial support to the sponsored individual for a specific period of time after their arrival in Canada.

To have sponsored persons be able to join their family reunification Canadian relative, the sponsored individuals coming from the UK have to meet the following general requirements:

• Be living in the UK or another country that is not Canada at the time of applying
• Be related to the Canadian citizen or permanent resident
• Not have a criminal record
• Try to financially support themselves after they arrive in Canada.

There are also additional requirements specific to the relative categories.

For sponsored children these are:

• Be younger than 22 years of age or be older than 22 years of age but unable to financially support themselves because of a disability
• Be a biological or adopted child of the Canadian sponsor
• Not be married
• Be financially dependent on the Canadian sponsor.

UK spouses of Canadian citizens need to meet the following criteria:

• Be at least 18 years old
• Be legally married to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

As for parents and grandparents, they have to be biological or adoptive parents of the other parent or grandparent, Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

There are two main stages to a family sponsorship application. First the sponsor must petition for you to come to the UK, and next the sponsored person must complete their application together with the sponsor’s petition.

What you need to do as a family sponsor

• Petition from Sponsor

A Canadian sponsor must first file a petition for the family member they wish to bring to Canada. They must download and complete the PDF forms, before digitally signing it, along with the sponsored individual. They will then be invited to sponsor the family member by the immigration authorities.

What you need to do as a sponsored person

• Create a Permanent Residence Online Application Portal Account

The principal applicant or sponsored person will need to create and login to an account to access and fill out the required forms for your application.

Apply for work permit if required

You will not be able to apply for a work permit, using the portal, and should instead apply with an IRCC secure account if you need one, or are eligible. You may continue to work if you already have one, or might qualify for an open work permit if you live with your sponsor in Canada, and have a receipt of your permanent residence application.

Submit Forms from Sponsored Person

Once your sponsor has filed the petition and completed all required documentation, the sponsored person must fill out the following online sponsorship forms:

• Generic Application Form Canada (Form IMM 0008)
• Schedule A – Background/Declaration (IMM 5669)
• Additional Family Information (IMM 5406)
• Supplementary Information – Your travels (IMM 5562)

Pay your application fees

You must pay all your application fees for family sponsorship, and any other dependents. You must also pay for medical exams, biometrics and police clearance.

The Express Entry program, intended for skilled workers who can contribute to the economy of Canada, is one of the fastest ways to receive permanent residency in Canada. The immigration programs that fall under the Express Entry system include:

• Federal Skilled Worker
• Federal Skilled Trades
• Canadian Experience Class.

Foreign citizens applying for Express Entry receive a score based on their language abilities, occupation, and other relevant factors. The Express Entry programs allow applicants to include their immediate relatives in the application. If it is accepted, they and their families can come to Canada to settle there permanently.

The Express Entry program is intended for the immediate family of Canadian citizens and permanent residents. It allows them to immigrate to Canada and obtain permanent residence there.

Those who are eligible for the Express Entry are:

• Spouses, common-law partners, and conjugal partners of Canadian citizens and permanent residents
• Dependent children of Canadian citizens and permanent residents
• Dependent children of spouses or common-law partners of Canadian citizens and permanent residents
• Dependent children of dependent children of Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

All categories of dependent children are only able to come to Canada under the Express Entry program if they are unmarried and younger than 22 years of age. The only exception is if the dependent child is older than 22 years of age but unable to support themselves financially because of a physical or mental condition or physical disability.

Those who are applying for the Family Class Sponsorship have to be ready to pay the following fees:

The sponsor’s spouse or sponsored person has to be at least 18 years of age, be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and be living in Canada. In addition to that, they cannot be in prison, bankrupt, or in debt.

Those who want to sponsor their foreign family members have to have enough money to be able to provide financial support for them financially after their arrival in Canada. They also have to be able to promise that they will do it.

The processing of family sponsorship applications varies but most of them take around 12 months to be processed. It is uncommon for them to be processed quicker. Nevertheless, the waiting time is often longer than 12 months, especially if you make mistakes in the application or fail to include some of the required documents.

To make sure your application is completed correctly, hire one of our immigration lawyers. They will review it before the submission and will help you fix any mistakes that could delay the processing of your application.

If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you have the right to bring your family members to Canada. The best way to do that is to apply for Family Sponsorship. If your application is successful, they will be able to join you in Canada and settle there indefinitely as canadian or permanent resident residents.

To find out more about what the best route to bringing your loved ones to Canada is, talk to our immigration lawyers. They will explain to you what are the requirements and the application process for the Family Sponsorship and will answer all your questions.

Applying for Canadian Family Visas is not easy and you might feel overwhelmed if you are going through this process alone. Luckily, here at Total Law, our lawyers are familiar with the Canadian immigration system and can make it much less complicated.

Our lawyers can assess your eligibility for Canadian Family Visas and can tell you in detail what you have to do to immigrate to Canada with your family permanently. They are professional legal services and will help you complete all the application forms and gather the necessary supporting documents. They will always be around to answer your questions and will liaise with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on your behalf so you can focus on other, more important aspects of the application process.

As a firm of highly qualified immigration lawyers, we can help you no matter how complex your case is.

To find out more about how we can help, call us today on 0333 305 9375