10 Things to Know About Being a Sponsor

As a sponsor, you must agree to a financial undertaking. This means that you will become financially responsible for the sponsored person for a pre-set amount of time. For a dependent child, it is ten years or when they turn 25, whatever happens first. For a spouse or partner, this financial undertaking is for three years.

The financial undertaking that you must agree to is for the duration of time and not contingent on whether or not you actually remain with your spouse or partner. This means that once you have sponsored your spouse or partner and they have arrived in Canada, even if you decide to separate, you will still be required to be financially responsible for this person. For example, you are separated from your sponsored spouse after two years of living together, and your spouse obtains social assistance. You will be responsible for repaying these funds to the Government.

In an effort to crack down on Marriages of Convenience, as of October 25, 2012 – the sponsor and sponsored person must live together in a legitimate relationship for two years from the day the sponsored person received their permanent resident status. This rule applies under specific circumstances and may not be applicable to all.

If you, as the sponsor, have been previously sponsored by a spouse or common law partner, and have thus obtained your permanent resident status – a five year bar applies before you are able to sponsor another spouse or common law partner. This bar also lasts even if you have obtained your citizenship within this time frame.

There also currently exists a sponsorship bar for violent crimes against certain relatives. If you have been convicted of a crime against a relative that is considered valid for the purposes of this bar, you are ineligible to sponsor. Members of this list considered to be relatives, but not limited to our partners and spouses (current or otherwise), children, parents or grandparents and even your child’s spouse, partner or children etc. the list goes on. Contact us for more details should this apply to you.

When you complete the application you will also be completing an undertaking, which is essentially your promise, to provide not only financial support but also other basic requirements such as food, clothing, utilities, shelter, fuel and other such basic necessities as per the living standard in Canada. This also includes other health care not included in public healthcare, such as eye and dental care.

If you are sponsoring your common-law partner, you will also need to demonstrate that you are not only in a genuine relationship but that you have cohabitated for at least one year. You can do this by submitting certain kinds of joint documentation.

If you are in a conjugal relationship and intend to sponsor, you must consider that there must be a significant amount of attachment between you and your partner beyond a physical relationship. You must also demonstrate you have been in a legitimate relationship for at least one year where marriage or cohabitation has not been possible due to circumstances beyond your control. Simply residing in different countries is not sufficient.

If you are sponsoring your parent, this category is promised to reopen in January 2014. There have been proposed changes to the previous requirements, such as now needing to meet a low-income cut-off. This is determined based on the size of your current family, plus the sponsored applicants versus your household income. Depending on the size of all those considered, you will need to have a household income of a certain amount in order to qualify.