Lonely Canadian Program/Other Relative Program: Sponsor Your Relatives

1. About the process

You may be able to sponsor certain relatives to immigrate to Canada under the Family Class if you’re at least 18 years old and a:

• Canadian citizen or
• permanent resident of Canada or
• person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act

If you sponsor a relative to come to Canada as a permanent resident, you must:

• support your relative financially when they arrive
• be able to meet basic needs for yourself and your relative, such as:
  • food
  • shelter
  • clothing
• make sure your relative doesn’t need social assistance

2. Who can sponsor

Sponsoring an eligible relative

You can sponsor certain relatives if you’re 18 years of age or older and a:

• Canadian citizen or
• person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act or
• permanent resident of Canada

You must live in Canada to sponsor eligible relatives unless you:

• are a Canadian citizen who lives abroad and
• plan to return to Canada when your relatives immigrate and
• are sponsoring your:
• spouse or
• common-law or conjugal partner or
• dependent children who have no dependent children

If you live in Quebec, you must also meet Quebec’s conditions to be a sponsor after we approve you as a sponsor. This includes signing an “undertaking” with the province. This is a contract that binds your sponsorship.

Your responsibilities

When you sponsor a relative to become a permanent resident of Canada, you must:

• meet set income guidelines
• agree in writing to give financial support to your relative and any other eligible relatives coming with them:
  • beginning on the date they become a permanent resident
  • for up to 20 years (depending on their age and how you’re related)

The person you sponsor must sign an agreement saying they will make the effort to support themselves. This includes sponsored dependent children 18 or older. Dependent children under 19 don’t have to sign this agreement.

Who isn’t eligible to sponsor a relative

You may not be able to sponsor a relative if you:

• are in prison
• have not paid your alimony or child support payments
• have declared bankruptcy and haven’t been released from it yet
• got social assistance for reasons other than being disabled
• didn’t pay back an immigration loan, made late payments or missed payments
• sponsored another relative in the past and didn’t meet the terms of the sponsorship agreementwere convicted of a violent crime, any offence against a relative or any sexual offence, depending on details of the case, such as:
  • the type of offence
  • how long ago it was
  • whether a record suspension was issued (formerly called “pardons” in Canada)

Other things not on this list may stop you from being able to sponsor a relative.

3. Who you can sponsor

You can only sponsor relatives like a brother, sister, aunt or uncle in very specific situations. If your family member doesn’t meet the criteria below, you can use our Come to Canada tool to find out which programs they may be eligible to apply for.

Depending on your situation, there are 2 options for who you can sponsor.

Option 1: Orphaned brother, sister, nephew, niece or grandchild

You can sponsor an orphaned brother, sister, nephew, niece or grandchild only if they meet all of these conditions:

• they’re related to you by blood or adoption
• both their mother and father passed away
• they’re under 18 years of age
• they’re single (not married or in a common-law or conjugal relationship)

You can’t sponsor your brother, sister, nephew, niece or grandchild if:

• one of their parents is still alive
• no one knows where their parents are
• their parents abandoned them
• someone else other than their parents is taking care of them while one or both their parents are alive
• their parent is in jail or otherwise detained

Option 2: Other relative

You may sponsor one relative, related by blood or adoption, of any age, if you meet all of these conditions:

• you (the person who wants to sponsor your relative) don’t have a living relative you could sponsor instead, such as a:
  • spouse
  • common-law partner
  • conjugal partner
  • son or daughter
  • parent
  • grandparent
  • orphaned brother or sister
  • orphaned nephew or niece
  • orphaned grandchild
• you (the potential sponsor) don’t have any relatives (aunt or uncle or any of the relatives listed above), who is a:
  • Canadian citizen
  • permanent resident
  • registered Indian under the Indian Act

If the relative you want to sponsor has a spouse, partner, or dependent children who will come with them to Canada, you must include them on the same sponsorship application.

Examples of who you can sponsor

See the examples below to better understand who you can sponsor.

Example 1: Eligible to sponsor an aunt

Veronica doesn’t have a spouse or a common-law partner. She has no children, and lives in Canada as a permanent resident. Her parents and grandparents have all passed away and she doesn’t have any relatives in Canada who are Canadian citizens, permanent residents or registered Indians. Veronica would like to sponsor her aunt Betty, who she is very close with. Her aunt Betty is married and has a daughter.