Family Sponsorship Program Introduction and Precautions

Canadian citizens and permanent residents can apply for spouses and children to join them in Canada. If the spouse and children are already in Canada, they can apply for permanent residence in Canada; if the spouse and children are in their place of origin overseas, they will need to apply for an immigrant visa by way of an overseas application. The characteristics of the two methods are briefly described as follows.

I, sponsorship of spouse, children immigrants

1,The characteristics of applying for permanent residence of spouse and children in Canada.

The applicant must already be present in Canada and, in principle, the applicant must also be present in Canada throughout the application period

the applicant must be a lawfully admitted and lawfully resident temporary resident at the time of entry and must remain in lawful status throughout the period of time pending the outcome of the application; those without lawful status cannot apply for permanent residence in Canada under the spouse category.

There are two phases to applying for permanent residence within the country.

The first stage lasts roughly 17 months and the immigration officer will decide whether to grant the applicant permission to apply in-country.

The second phase lasts for 10 months and deals with the issuance of permanent resident status, such as medical examinations, background checks, etc.

Applicants must prove that they have lived together for more than one year if they are not registered as married to their spouse and apply as a common-law spouse; if they are registered as married to their spouse, they may apply on the form immediately after registration

Applicants must prove the authenticity of the spouse/cohabiting spouse relationship; if the immigration officer doubts the authenticity of the spouse relationship, the visa application will be denied.

The application for in-country spousal reunification can be accompanied by a work visa if necessary;

If the application is denied, the applicant has no right of appeal.

2,Characteristics of immigrant visas for spouses and children outside of Canada

In order to speed up the processing, the applicant is required to submit the sponsorship application, the medical examination and the visa application together at the time of entry, so it is called the three-in-one application.

The applicant cannot select a visa office and can only submit the application documents to the Canadian visa office responsible for the place of residence for processing.

the current processing time for the entire immigration application is about 6 months, with more complicated cases taking longer such as 9 months or even more than a year

must prove the authenticity of the marital/cohabiting spousal relationship; if the immigration officer suspects that the marital/cohabiting relationship between the applicant and the sponsor is for the purpose of obtaining Canadian status for the applicant, the immigration application will be denied

In the unlikely event that the application is denied, the sponsor may apply for an appeal to the Court of Appeal, which will make a decision

II, Sponsored Parent, Grandparent and Adopted Child Immigration.

Canadian citizens or permanent residents can sponsor their parents, grandparents or adopted children to immigrate to Canada if they meet certain requirements. The requirements for sponsorship and the method of examination are as follows.

1, Guarantor requirements.

The Canadian sponsor must be at least 18 years of age;

The Canadian sponsor must have sufficient financial income and meet the minimum income standards set by the Department of Immigration

2. Calculation of sponsor's financial income.

The income standards set by the Department of Immigration are published in February each year and are valid for one year and are adjusted annually for inflation.

The income that can be used for sponsorship refers to all pre-tax income within one year from the time of entry into the form. If the sponsor has a spouse and the spouse agrees to be a co-sponsor, the spouse's income can be added to this total amount. However, EI from Employment Insurance, federal and provincial funding programs, etc. must be deducted.

The family size must include the sponsor himself/herself, the sponsor's spouse and the sponsor's dependent children plus the number of sponsored parents, grandparents and adopted children in Canada.

The sponsor is required to add to the family size any number of people who have previously sponsored to come to Canada but whose sponsorship has not yet expired.

On the sponsored party, the legal dependents of the sponsored person, such as a spouse, must be included.

For example, a sponsor who has sponsored a spouse to come to Canada and has a child is now divorced and the child is awarded to the spouse, but the spouse has been in Canada for less than three years and the previously signed sponsorship agreement has not yet expired. In this case, both the former spouse and the child must be counted and the sponsor's family size should still be counted as three.

Another example is when two parents are alive, but the children are prepared to sponsor one person to come to Canada. In this case, as long as the parties are still married, the number of people must still be counted as two.

When you add up all the numbers that should be counted, you get the total number of people in the family. From this total number, you can find the minimum annual income required in the table. It is important to note that the minimum income listed in the table is the entire pre-tax income for the year prior to the date of application. This income must be income actually received and reported to the IRS. Because of the complexity of calculating income for the 365 days prior to the date of entry, the new immigration law allows sponsors to use the total income from the most recent tax return as the basis for calculating income. This is easier for those whose income from the past year's tax return has reached the sponsorship amount.

3, Application Procedure.

(1) Application for sponsorship: If it is determined that the sponsor's income meets the minimum income criteria in the table compared to the number of family members, the sponsor can submit an application for sponsorship to the Immigration Bureau's sponsorship center, which must include proof of kinship with the parents, a sponsorship agreement with the parents, and a commitment to be responsible for the basic needs of the parents within ten years of reporting for work, etc. If the parents receive welfare payments during this period, the government will recover them from the If the parents receive welfare payments during this period, the government will recover them from the sponsor. After filing the sponsorship application, there is a waiting period of 18-22 months before the application is approved.

(2) Immigrant visa application: After receiving the sponsorship approval letter, you need to send your parents' immigration application documents to the Canadian visa office in your parents' country of residence to apply for an immigrant visa. Currently, residents of Taiwan can send their application to the Visa Office at the Taipei Economic and Trade Office; residents of Hong Kong, Macau and residents of Hainan, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces on the mainland can send their application to the Visa Office in Hong Kong; other provinces and cities on the mainland should send their application to the Visa Office in Beijing.

(3) After a long wait of 2-3 years, the visa office issues the medical examination form, completes the background check, etc., and everything is in order before issuing the visa.

According to the current progress, parental reunification requires a painful wait of 4-5 years to complete the approval process from the time the application for sponsorship begins until the visa is issued. We strongly recommends applicants who are eligible for sponsorship to enter the form as soon as possible and as early as possible to enter the waiting list process.