Family class sponsorship allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to reunite with close family members by sponsoring them for permanent residence. Understanding who qualifies and the financial obligations involved is essential before starting the process.
Who Qualifies as a Family Member You Can Sponsor?
The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) defines the family class narrowly. You can sponsor: your spouse, common-law partner, or conjugal partner; your dependent children (biological or adopted, under 22 and not married or in a common-law relationship, or 22 and older if they have always been financially dependent on you due to a physical or mental condition); your parents and grandparents (subject to the annual lottery); and in some cases, other relatives if you have no other eligible relatives and no one else in the family class who can sponsor.
Notably, you cannot sponsor siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, or cousins under the family class — with the single exception of an orphaned relative (brother, sister, niece, nephew, grandchild) who is under 18 years old and has no surviving parents.
Who Cannot Be Sponsored?
Family class sponsorship is not available if: the person has been sponsored before and the previous sponsor defaulted on the undertaking, the person has been convicted of certain serious offences, the person is inadmissible to Canada (criminality, medical, security), or the person has a valid removal order in effect.
Sponsor's Financial Obligations
When you sponsor a family member, you sign a sponsorship undertaking — a legal contract with the Canadian government. You promise to financially support the sponsored person so they do not need to apply for most social assistance programs. The duration of the undertaking depends on who you are sponsoring: three years for a spouse or partner, ten years (or until age 25) for a dependent child under 22, and 20 years for parents and grandparents. If your sponsored family member receives social assistance during the undertaking period, the government can recover those costs from you.
No Income Requirement for Spousal Sponsorship
For sponsoring a spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, or dependent child, there is no minimum income requirement. You only need to demonstrate that you are not receiving social assistance (excluding disability-related assistance). This is different from the Parents and Grandparents Program, which has specific income thresholds. However, you must demonstrate you can provide basic necessities for the sponsored person.
Processing Timeline
Spousal and partner applications currently take approximately 12 months. Dependent children applications take a similar timeframe. Parents and grandparents applications (when successful in the lottery) have historically taken two to three or more years. IRCC publishes current processing times on their website — check regularly as these change with application volumes and processing capacity.