Parents and Grandparents

If you are a citizen or permanent resident of Canada, you may be able to sponsor your parent or grandparent to become a permanent resident under the Family Class (FC).

 If you sponsor your parent or grandparent to come to Canada as a permanent resident, you must make every reasonable effort to provide for your own essential needs and those of your parent or grandparent. You are responsible for supporting your parent or grandparent financially when he or she arrives. As a sponsor, you must make sure your parent or grandparent does not need to seek social assistance from the government.

Sponsor Eligibility
Sponsor Ineligibility
Who can be sponsored
Length of undertaking
Minimum necessary income
Sponsors Living in Quebec
Quebec Income Requirement Scale (QIRS)
Misrepresentation
Refusal of Application

Sponsor Eligibility

In order to sponsor, you must:

  • be 18 years of age or older;
  • be a Canadian citizen, Registered Indian or permanent resident;
  • be sponsoring a member of the family Class;
  • live in Canada;
  • sign an undertaking promising to provide for the basic requirements of the person being sponsored;
  • sign an agreement with the person you are sponsoring that confirms that each of you understands your mutual obligations and responsibilities;
  • prove that you have sufficient income to provide the basic requirements for your family members in Canada as well as the persons included in your sponsorship undertaking. You may also have a co-signer.

Sponsor Ineligibility

You are ineligible to sponsor if:

  • are in receipt of social assistance for a reason other than disability,
  • are in default of an undertaking, an immigration loan, a performance bond, or family support payments,
  • are an undischarged bankrupt,
  • were convicted of an offence of a sexual nature, a violent criminal offence, an offence against a relative that results in bodily harm or an attempt or threat to commit any such offences—depending on circumstances such as the nature of the offence, how long ago it occurred and whether a pardon was issued
  • are under a removal order,
  • are detained in a penitentiary, jail, reformatory or prison,

Who can be sponsored

  • Your mother or father
  • Your grandmother or grandfather

Length of undertaking
When you sponsor a parent or a grandparent, the undertaking is valid for 20 years, and for all persons included in the sponsorship undertaking.

Your obligations as a sponsor and as a co-signer, if applicable, begin when your family members included in the sponsorship undertaking enter Canada to remain as permanent residents.

Minimum necessary income

The following table applies to residents of all provinces except Quebec. For each of the three consecutive taxation years preceding the date on which the application is submitted to CIC, the sponsor (and co-signer, if applicable) must meet the Minimum Necessary Income, which is based on the Low Income Cut-offs plus 30%.

Federal Income Table for Parents and Grandparents Sponsorship

Size of Family Unit    Minimum Income      Minimum Income      Minimum Income

2013                        2012                      2011
2 persons                    $37,708                   $36,637                  $35,976
3 persons                    $46,354                   $45,040                  $44,229
4 persons                    $56,280                   $54,685                  $53,699
5 persons                    $63,833                   $62,023                  $60,905
6 persons                    $71,991                   $69,950                  $68,689
7 persons                    $80,153                   $77,879                  $76,475

If more than 7 persons, $8,148                    $7,929                    $7,786

for each additional

person, add

Note: If you are applying in 2016, you must provide proof of income from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for the taxation years of 2014, 2013, 2012.

Sponsors Living in Quebec
An agreement reached between the federal and Quebec governments gives the province responsibility for determining whether or not sponsors living in Quebec have the financial ability to sponsor members of the family class.

If you are found eligible to sponsor, you will receive a letter from CIC’s Case Processing Centre telling you how to proceed with the Ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles (MICC). You must pay the fees required by the MICC before your undertaking is processed and demonstrate that you have the financial capacity to cover the basic requirements for the following people:

– themselves;
– their family members in Canada or elsewhere;
– the person they are sponsoring and his or her family members, whether or not they are coming to Canada; and,
– the persons for whom they and, if applicable, their co-signer have signed a previous undertaking that is still in                  effect.

The MICC may refuse Quebec residents as sponsors if:

  • they or their co-signer, if applicable, have failed to fulfil the obligations of a previous undertaking because the person they sponsored received social assistance or special benefits and they have not reimbursed the Quebec government all amounts owing;
  • during the five years preceding the submission of their application to sponsor, they or their co-signer, if applicable, have failed to meet their support payment obligations;
  • they cannot demonstrate their financial capability to sponsor;
  • they do not meet other requirements imposed by the provincial authorities.

Quebec Income Requirement Scale (QIRS): 

Please contact us as the QIRS is updating from time to time.

Misrepresentation
A foreign national is inadmissible for five years for withholding or misrepresenting information that is material to making a decision on an application.

Refusal of Application
If the application has been refused, the sponsor in Canada can file an appeal at the Immigration Appeal Division. See Refused Application.

 Interested in submitting an application under this category? Please click here for free consultation.