Family sponsorship
Your relatives can live, study and work in Canada if they become permanent residents of Canada. You can sponsor certain relatives to come to Canada if you’re at least 18 years old and a:
- Canadian citizen or
- person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act or
- permanent resident of Canada
Who you can sponsor:
You can sponsor your spouse, common law partner, conjugal partner or dependent children.
Your spouse
Your spouse can be either sex and must be:
- legally married to you
- at least 18 years old
Your common-law partner
Your common-law partner:
- isn’t legally married to you
- can be either sex
- is at least 18 years old
- has been living with you for at least 12 consecutive months, meaning you’ve been living together continuously for 1 year in a conjugal relationship, without any long periods apart
- Any time spent away from each other should have been
- short
- temporary
- Any time spent away from each other should have been
If you or your common-law partner choose to end the relationship, we consider the relationship to be over.
You’ll need to give proof of your common-law relationship.