Family Class Sponsorship is a program offered by Canada that allows family members of Canadian Citizens and permanent residents who reside in other countries to live jointly in Canada. Canadian Citizens and PRs can bring their children living overseas to Canada to live and become Canadian Permanent residents.

Canadian Citizens and PRs can sponsor their dependent children, whether biological or adopted, to live in Canada with them. To sponsor your children to come and live in Canada, you are required to meet the following requirements:

  • You must be of at least 18 years or older.
  • You must be a citizen or a permanent resident of Canada living in the country, planning to move back to Canada, or enrolled under the Indian Act of Canada.
  • You must be capable of fulfilling the fundamental needs of your dependent child.
  • You must be able to validate your relation to your dependent child.
  • You must not be enrolled in criminal cases, charged with a serious offense, imprisoned, or bankrupt.
  • You must not be in violation of a prior sponsorship or be a subject of immigration investigation.
  • You must not be a recipient of financial support except for due to the disability.

In order to qualify for sponsorship, the children must be regarded as dependent if they satisfy the following conditions:

  • If the child is a biological or adopted child of a Canadian citizen or PR
  • If the child is of the age below 22 years
  • If the child is unmarried or in a common-law relationship

In case the child is of more than 22 years, he/she may be eligible for sponsorship as a dependent if he/she meets the following requirements:

  • If he/she had relied on his/her parents for financial assistance even when they were under 22 years
  • If he/she is undergoing a mental or physical disorder that makes it impossible for them to support themselves

The dependent children of the Canadian citizen or PR must not get married or be in a common-law relationship during the application processing and as long as they become Canadian Permanent residents.

Furthermore, a dependent child will be considered as a dependent child in the case, at the time of initial application processing, if he is divorced, widowed or whose marriage has been rejected, or who is not in a common law relationship.

Child and parent relationship explained.

A dependent child can be a biological or an adopted child of the parent. A child will be considered a biological child if :

  • He is genetically related to the parent who is applying for a sponsorship.
  • He is not genetically related to the parent who is applying for a sponsorship, but the applying parent was the parent’s spouse, conjugal partner, or common-law partner at the time of his birth.
  • He was born via assisted human reproduction technologies.

Parents can use the birth certificate or baptismal certificate to validate the biological relationship with the child.

If the child is born through human reproductive technologies, birth certificates can be used to establish a parent-child relationship, but additional authorized documents are required that validate that the person swearing to be the child’s parent is the mother who gave birth or spouse/common-law partner of the mother at the birth time.

Parents are also required to prove that they have used assisted human reproduction technologies.

In case the child was born via surrogacy in an overseas country and is legally the child of the sponsoring parent or their spouse in that country, the child might be considered a biological child if they are also genetically related.

What is the lock-in age of dependent children?

The dependent children’s age is locked in or fixed on the date when the department receives the entire permanent residence application of the principal applicant.

The complete PR application includes all the details and documents of the document checklist for a particular category, including the proof of the submission of processing fees.

This indicates that a child below the age of 22 years and who is not a spouse or common-law partner during the ‘age lock-in’ will remain to be considered a dependent child, even if he turns 22 during the application processing, provided that he remains unmarried and is not into a common law relationship at the time when the government authorizes the permanent residence.

Child custody issues

Sponsoring applicants who want to bring a child to Canada who is linked to custody cases are required to submit proof that they are permitted to take the child from a foreign country where the child is presently living in.

The child’s parent or guardian in the foreign country must submit their consent in writing that the child can travel to Canada to live and become a permanent Canadian resident.

In case the guardian or parent of the child does not agree to consent, IRCC can accept a court order. As per the law, in case the other parent or legal guardian does not consent, it is the responsibility of the applicant to supply proof that they have the only custody of the dependent child and validate that the other parent or legal guardian does not have the child’s custody or any right to object if he (the applicant) intends to take the child from the overseas country.

In case both parents share custody of the child, the applicant must submit written consent from the other parent to IRCC, reflecting that they have no objection or complaint if the child is being processed for Canadian permanent residence. These sponsorship requirements are to prevent infringement of the custodial order or foreign laws. In Canada, the primary factor that is considered in a custody agreement is the child’s best interest. Thus, when processing a sponsorship application for dependent children where there is no written consent from the other parent is available, IRCC determines all the crucial aspects and circumstances and makes informed and good decisions.