Through family sponsorship, Canada accepts more than 100,000 immigrants each year.
About 80% of these immigrants are accepted by IRCC (previously CIC) under the Spouses, Partners, and Children Program, and the remaining 20% are accepted through the Parents and Grandparents Program.
Overview of Family Sponsorship for Canadian Immigration:
One of the cornerstones of Canada's immigration system is family reunions. Since the end of World War II, Canada has made an effort to welcome immigrants in order to boost its economy, reunite families, and for humanitarian and compassionate reasons. The second-largest group of immigrants accepted by Canada under the Immigration Levels Plan is members of the family class. To help its post-COVID economic recovery, Canada is pursuing the largest levels of immigration in its history. As a result, Canada expects to accept over 400,000 new immigrants annually, of whom over 100,000 belong to the family class.
The Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC for short, oversees the nation's immigration system. Previously, the division was known as Citizenship and Immigration Canada, or CIC. The Canadian government's family sponsorship program is created and managed by IRCC. In order to do this, program requirements must be established. Additionally, applications for family sponsorship must be accepted and evaluated.
What is the sponsorship of a Canadian family?
Sponsorship has two essential components:
1) It enables your relative to enter Canada and obtain permanent residency (PR).
2) You must pledge to support that person financially and to meet their basic requirements as an individual.
What effect will COVID-19 have on family sponsorship?
Application forms for family sponsorship are still being accepted by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
The coronavirus pandemic has hampered the processing of sponsorship applications, but the Canadian government is still searching for novel and sympathetic approaches to reunite families.
Some of the actions that have been taken are listed below:
In order to shorten wait times and expedite the application process, IRCC has expanded the number of employees who will review spousal sponsorship applications by 66%.
The IRCC has stated that it may use technology to conduct applicant interviews remotely and biometric facilitation measures.
As long as you meet all qualifications to be a sponsor, you can continue to sponsor your spouse, parent, grandparent, child, or another family member even if you previously received Employment Insurance and Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).
You won't have to fulfill your commitments if the individual you've sponsored obtained CERB or Employment Insurance (EI) during the undertaking period.
Can I be a sponsor?
You must fulfill a number of requirements before you can sponsor a family member, including a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who is at least 18 years old and can sustain the sponsored person for a number of years.
Who can I sponsor?
Spouses and common-law partners
Dependent children
Parents and grandparents
There are certain exceptions to this restriction, though, and you might be able to sponsor someone who isn't in your direct family (like a sister, niece, or uncle) if:
you do not have any other immediate family members you could sponsor, or
you have legally adopted them and they meet the definition of a dependent child.
What kind of income is needed to sponsor?
You must sign a Sponsorship Agreement with the family member you are supporting. This is your promise to contribute financially to meet the fundamental requirements of the person you are sponsoring, including their access to food, clothes, shelter, and healthcare that is not provided by the government.
You must additionally meet or surpass the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) for various sponsorship kinds, such as if:
you are funding a spouse or partner who is supporting a dependent child who is also supporting one or more of their own children, or
if you are sponsoring a parent of a dependent child who also has one or more dependent children,
You're supporting a grandparent or parent.