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Family Class
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) states that Canadian citizens and permanent resident s living in Canada who are 18 years of age or older, may sponsor close relatives or family members who want to become permanent residents of Canada. It is a mandatory that sponsors must promise to support the relative or family member and accompanying them for a period of three to 10 years to help them settle in Canada.
The definitions of close relatives or family members that can be sponsored by a Canadian citizens or permanent residents:
- Parents and grandparents
- Dependent children, including adopted children; children under 18 years of age whom you intend to adopt
- Brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, or grandchildren who are orphans, under the age of 18 and not married or in a common-law relationship
- And any other relatives if you have none of the above relatives or family members, either in Canada or abroad.
The key objective of this family class immigration is family reunification. In addition to that, spouses or common-la w partners who are 16 years of age or older, and have legal temporary status in Canada as visitors, students, or temporary workers (holding a temporary resident visa) may apply under the In-Canada class.
The applicants and their family members are subject to medical, criminal, and background checks.
Procedure
The process of Family Immigration Class starts with the sponsor obtaining an application from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). Please note that the type of application and submission procedure differs depending on the relationship between the sponsor and the applicant, and whether the applicant is abroad or already in Canada.
The case when the applicant is the sponsor's spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner or dependent child
In this case, a Joint Application Guide is introduced because it is simpler and easier to use for both sponsors and applicants. It is designed to make the processing quicker by streamlining the receipt of applications.
It is sponsor responsibility to obtain a joint application and guide, including the sponsorship and immigrant applications. Then, sponsor is also responsible to obtain the necessary documents and information from the applicant and submit both applications and all supporting documents to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.
In the case when the applicant is located outside Canada, the Case Processing Centre will complete the sponsorship assessment and then send the immigrant portion to a visa office th at serves the area where the immigrant applicant lives. It is visa office that will assess the applications, interview applicants, if necessary, and conduct medical, security, and criminal checks.
An application by a spouse or common-law partner under the In-Canada Class (interviews, and medical, security, and criminality checks) will be assessed by a Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) staff in Canada.
Other Family Class Applicants
The sponsor starts the immigration process by obtaining a Sponsorship Application from Citize nship and Immigration Canada. The sponsor will fill out the application and submit it to CIC.
Once the application has been processed, the Case Processing Centre will forward a copy of the sponsorship to the responsible visa office and send the Application Guide for Family C lass to the sponsor. The sponsor then has to forward this guide the applicants aboard.
After receiving the applications, applicants are to complete and submit it to the responsible visa office. The name of the office is indicated on the correspondence included with the guide. Please note that the visa office will take no action until it receives the completed applicants.
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