Table of Contents
Who you can sponsor:
- A spouse, a common-law partner or a conjugal partner
- Your dependent children
- Your parents and grandparents
- Your brothers or sisters, nephews or nieces, granddaughters or grandsons who are orphaned, under 18 years of age and not married or in a common-law relationship
- Another relative of any age or relationship but only under specific conditions
- Certain accompanying relatives of the above
Definitions:
Spouse – You are a spouse if you are married to your sponsor and your marriage is legally valid.
Common-law partner – You are a common-law partner, either of the opposite sex or same-sex if you have been living together in a conjugal relationship for at least one year continuous (a 12-month period that was not interrupted). You will need proof that you and your common-law partner have combined your affairs and set up a household.
Conjugal partner – This category is for partners, either of the opposite sex or same-sex, where exceptional circumstances beyond their control prevented them from living together and therefore cannot qualifying as common-law partners or spouses.
Dependent children – A son or daughter is dependent when the child:
- is under the age of 22 and does not have a spouse or common-law partner;
- is over the age of 22 and depended substantially on the financial support of a parent since before the age of 22 because of a physical or mental condition.