Things to Consider when Sponsoring Your Parent or Grandparent

Things to Consider when Sponsoring Your Parent or Grandparent is one of the cornerstones of the Canadian Immigration system whereby Canadian Permanent Residents and Citizens have the ability to be reunited with loved ones abroad.

Recently,  Things to Consider when Sponsoring Your Parent or Grandparent category for parents and grandparents has been reopened, allowing Canadians to now also sponsor their close relatives. However, sponsorship is only available to those who qualify. As the main applicant with respect to the sponsor, you must be:

• his or her father or mother,
• his or her grandfather or grandmother,
• a child he or she adopted outside Canada or intends to adopt in Canada,
• his or her brother, sister, nephew, niece, grandson or granddaughter, and be an orphan, under the age of 18 and not a spouse or common-law partner,
• his or her relative, regardless of your age, if the sponsor does not have a spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, son, daughter, mother, father, brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece, who is a Canadian citizen, Indian or permanent resident or whose application for permanent residence in Canada he or she could sponsor

You should also be aware of medical requirements, especially if you are elderly or have a medical condition. As the applicant, you and your family members, whether accompanying you or not, must undergo and pass a medical examination in order to come to Canada. To pass the medical examination you or your family members must not have a condition that may be considered to be:

• a danger to public health or safety
• a cause of excessive demand on health or social services in Canada.
• Examples of “excessive demand” include ongoing hospitalization or institutional care for a physical or mental illness.

The medical examination you will need to undergo includes such testing as:

• a complete physical examination for all family members;
• chest X-ray and a radiologist’s report for everyone aged 11 years and over;
• blood test for everyone aged 15 years or over;
• urinalysis for everyone aged 5 years or over;
• Syphilis and HIV screening tests for everyone aged 15 years and over.