In many cases, people who are considering a move to a different country are faced with a choice between staying with their families and pursuing an opportunity. Those coming to Canada do not have to make this choice, because the Canadian government is strongly committed to keep family units together. Temporary foreign workers, international students and permanent residents generally have the right to bring their life partners and dependent children with them.

Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recognizes that it is not always possible to bring accompanying family members at the time of the move. For example, you may prefer to allow your children to complete their school year before making the move.

For these circumstances, IRCC has created the dependent child sponsorship program, which provides your loved ones with a means of entering Canada after you have arrived.

The Family Class of immigration allows Canadian citizens or permanent residents to sponsor applications for family members who wish to move to Canada. The dependent child sponsorship program is a subsection of this class.

What are the requirements for the dependent child sponsorship program?

This program is available to dependent natural or adopted children who have a parent already in Canada. In order for this parent to be approved as a sponsor, the relationship between the parent and the child must be proven through documentation such as a birth certificate or adoption papers.

If you are in the process of adopting a child from another country, you may begin the sponsorship process once the adoption proceedings have moved into the final phases.

Once you have been approved as your child’s sponsor, your child’s permanent residence application will be processed on a priority stream, so that you can be reunited as soon as possible. Once the application is approved, your child will be able to enter Canada as a permanent resident.