Bringing families together is at the heart of what we do. Canada's family class immigration programs are designed to reunite Canadians and permanent residents with their loved ones.
Family immigration is personal. You may be trying to sponsor a spouse, parent, grandparent, child, or another eligible relative while dealing with distance, deadlines, financial questions, and proof requirements.
This service is for families who want help understanding which sponsorship route fits their relationship and how to prepare a complete, well-organized application.
Canada values the importance of family and recognizes the significance of keeping families together. RA Migration helps sponsors and applicants prepare clear, complete family-class applications while avoiding the mistakes that often lead to delays, returned files, or refusals.
Canada offers sponsorship options for spouses, common-law partners, and conjugal partners. Same-sex partners are treated the same as opposite-sex partners, and the sponsored person must be in a genuine relationship with the sponsor, not in a relationship entered into mainly for immigration status.
To be eligible to sponsor, you must:
Spousal sponsorship can be processed in two ways:
If your spouse or partner is already living in Canada, you may apply from inside Canada. Eligible applicants can also apply for an open work permit after their permanent residence file is accepted for processing.
If your spouse or partner is outside Canada, the application is processed while they remain abroad and they become permanent residents once the application is approved and final steps are completed.
Canada recognizes common-law and conjugal partners as well as same-sex partners. If your situation involves cohabitation history, relationship barriers, previous refusals, or complicated proof of relationship, we help you build the evidence package properly before you submit.
The Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) is the permanent-residence route for eligible Canadians and permanent residents sponsoring parents or grandparents. IRCC paused new PGP intake on July 15, 2026: it is not accepting new interest-to-sponsor forms or issuing new invitations until further notice, while applications already submitted continue to be processed. Check IRCC’s current PGP intake notice.
A complete PGP application normally requires an invitation from IRCC. No new invitations are being issued during the current pause. Applications already submitted are still being processed, and sponsors must meet the applicable income rules while the people sponsored must meet medical, criminal and security requirements. See IRCC’s July 2026 PGP notice.
| Program Step | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Current intake | Paused since July 15, 2026; IRCC is not accepting new interest forms or issuing invitations until further notice. |
| Income review | Your income is assessed against the current sponsor requirements for your family size and the applicable tax years. |
| Undertaking | You commit to financially support your parents or grandparents for 20 years outside Quebec. |
| Admissibility | Your parents or grandparents must pass medical, criminal, and security screening. |
While the PGP intake is paused, the Super Visa is often the practical temporary-residence alternative. It can allow eligible parents and grandparents to visit Canada for up to 5 years at a time and can be valid for up to 10 years. Learn more about the Super Visa.
Canada allows sponsorship of other relatives only in very specific situations. This is a limited category, and the sponsor must meet strict eligibility rules before IRCC will accept the case.
You may sponsor an orphaned brother, sister, nephew, niece, or grandchild only if they are related to you by blood or adoption, are under 18, are single, and both parents are deceased.
You may be able to sponsor one relative of any age if you do not have a living close relative you could sponsor instead and you do not have another qualifying relative in Canada who is a citizen, permanent resident, or registered Indian.
For this category, sponsors must be at least 18, live in Canada, meet the income rules, and sign an undertaking to support the relative for the required period.
Even if a relative qualifies for sponsorship, they can still be refused if they are inadmissible to Canada for medical, criminal, security, or misrepresentation reasons. If there are any concerns about admissibility, it is important to assess the case before filing.
Family immigration applications involve detailed documentation and strict eligibility requirements. A mistake can result in delays, refusals, or bans on re-applying. Our regulated consultants ensure your application is complete, accurate, and compelling.
We prepare and review every document to ensure nothing is missing or inconsistent, which is a common reason for refusals.
We track current processing times and submission windows to ensure your application is submitted at the right time through the right channel.
We guide you on how to properly document the genuineness of your relationship, a critical factor in spousal sponsorship decisions.
If a previous application was refused, we analyze the refusal reasons and build a stronger case for reapplication or appeal.
Family sponsorship files must explain real relationships through documents that are clear and consistent. RA Migration understands that each family situation is different and that the right evidence depends on the specific sponsorship category.
We help review eligibility, organize forms and supporting documents, identify missing information, and prepare the application so the relationship and sponsor details are easier to follow. We give honest guidance without promising an outcome.
If your goal is to reunite with family in Canada, RA Migration can help you prepare with care, structure, and attention to detail.
Canadian citizens and permanent residents can sponsor a spouse, common-law or conjugal partner, dependent children, and parents and grandparents. Other relatives only in narrow circumstances.
The categories are defined and there is no general "family" sponsorship. Siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews cannot normally be sponsored. The limited exceptions are orphaned close relatives under specific conditions, and the one-relative provision available to sponsors who have no other living relative to sponsor.
Inland applies when the sponsored spouse is in Canada with valid status; outland is processed through a visa office abroad and can be used whether or not the applicant is in Canada.
The practical trade-offs matter more than the labels. Inland applicants may be eligible for an open work permit while waiting, but leaving Canada during processing carries risk. Outland applicants generally retain the right to appeal a refusal to the Immigration Appeal Division, which inland applicants do not. Neither is universally better, and the choice should be made deliberately.
Generally no. Spousal and dependent-child sponsorship does not carry a minimum income requirement, unlike parent and grandparent sponsorship.
You do sign an undertaking to provide for your spouse’s basic needs, and being in receipt of social assistance other than for disability can make you ineligible. Parent and grandparent sponsorship is the category with the formal income test, which is LICO plus 30 percent across three consecutive tax years.
A common-law partner is someone you have lived with in a conjugal relationship for at least 12 consecutive months.
The 12 months must be continuous. Short absences for work or family reasons are generally acceptable, but a genuine separation restarts the clock. Evidence has to place you at the same address across that period, which usually means joint tenancy or ownership, shared accounts and correspondence, rather than photographs alone. Couples who cannot meet the cohabitation requirement because of immigration or legal barriers may fall into the conjugal partner category, which is narrow and evidence-heavy.
With documents that independently show a shared life over time, rather than with a single certificate or a large number of photographs.
The strongest evidence tends to be third-party and dated: joint leases or mortgages, shared financial accounts, insurance and benefit designations, correspondence to a common address, travel records showing time together, and communication records spanning the relationship. Officers are assessing whether the relationship is genuine and was not entered into primarily for immigration purposes, so continuity matters more than volume.
Canadian citizens can, provided they demonstrate they will return to live in Canada when the sponsored person becomes a permanent resident. Permanent residents cannot: they must be residing in Canada to sponsor.
A citizen sponsoring from abroad should be prepared to show concrete plans to return, such as employment arrangements, housing or other evidence. Intention alone, stated without support, is a common reason these applications run into difficulty.
The Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) can give a parent or grandparent permanent residence. IRCC paused new intake on July 15, 2026 and is not accepting new interest forms or issuing invitations until further notice; submitted applications continue to be processed. When intake is available, sponsors must meet the applicable income requirement—generally LICO plus 30% for the relevant three tax years—and sign a 20‑year undertaking outside Quebec. See IRCC’s current PGP status.
The Super Visa is faster and more accessible. It’s a multiple‑entry visitor visa valid for up to 10 years, allowing stays of up to 5 years at a time. Your parent or grandparent keeps their status abroad. They just get to visit for long stretches. It’s the most practical path for most families.
Effective March 31, 2026, a host and co-signer, if applicable, can meet the Super Visa minimum income requirement by showing that their total income met the full threshold in either of the two tax years before the application.
Alternatively, if the host and co-signer earned at least 75% of the required amount during the year before the application, the visiting parent or grandparent's income may cover the remaining gap if they can prove that income will continue while they are in Canada. Savings alone are not income.
The Super Visa uses IRCC's current minimum necessary income table; the Parents and Grandparents Program's LICO-plus-30% calculation does not apply. The medical exam, relationship evidence and qualifying health insurance with at least $100,000 in emergency coverage are still required. Applications already in process when the new rules took effect are assessed under the new instructions. See IRCC's Super Visa financial-support rules.
RA Migration serves clients across Ontario and Quebec, online and in person from our Burlington office, with Arabic-speaking service.
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Each of these has its own page with the specifics, the evidence required, and the mistakes that cause refusals.
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