Determining who you can sponsor

You may sponsor another person related to you if you have no other living person in your family you could sponsor instead. Therefore, you cannot sponsor:

• A spouse;
• A de facto spouse;
• A conjugal partner;
• A son or daughter;
• A father or mother;
• A grandfather or grandmother;
• An orphaned minor brother or an orphaned minor sister;
• An orphaned minor nephew or an orphaned minor niece;
• An orphaned minor grandson or an orphaned minor granddaughter.

Furthermore, no member of your family (spouse, de facto spouse, child, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece), whether residing in Canada or not, must be:

• A Canadian citizen;
• A permanent resident; or
• A registered Indian under the terms of the Indian Act .

The person you wish to sponsor may be accompanied by immediate family members:

• Husband or wife;
• Spouse;
• Dependent child or children;
• Dependent child of the sponsored person's dependent child. 

A dependent child may be:

• The biological child of the person you sponsor;
• The adopted child by full adoption of the person you sponsor or of that person’s wife or husband or de facto spouse Full adoption severs the parental relationship between the child and the family of origin. It creates a new relationship with the adoptive parent;
• A child who is under 22 years old may not be married or have a de facto spouse.

Children age 22 or over must fulfill these two conditions:

• Be unable to meet their needs due to a physical or mental disability; and
• Depend on one parent for most of their financial support, without interruption since reaching the age of 22.

You must declare the family members accompanying the sponsored person in your undertaking application.