Sponsor Your Parents for Permanent Residence

Sponsoring your parents or grandparents consist of 2 applications that are submitted and reviewed for the parents and grandparents program. These include the sponsorship application and the permanent residence application.

If both applications are approved, you’ll sign an agreement called an undertaking that starts on the day the person you’re sponsoring (and their family members, if this applies) becomes a permanent resident of Canada.

You can sponsor your own parents and grandparents if you:

are invited to apply
are at least 18 years old
live in Canada
are a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act
have enough money to support the people you want to sponsor. To
show that you have enough, you’ll have to provide your proof of income, or you may have a spouse or common-law partner co-sign to combine your incomes
meet all other requirements under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations

If you live outside Quebec and become a sponsor, you must promise to financially support the people you are sponsoring for a period of time. This is called "promise an undertaking". However, the undertaking commits you to provide financial support for your sponsored family members for 20 years, starting when they become permanent residents and repaying any provincial social assistance (money from the government) your sponsored family members get during that time.

Also, you and your sponsored family members need to agree to certain responsibilities during the undertaking period. This is called "the sponsorship agreement". The sponsorship agreement means that you’ll provide for the basic needs of your sponsored family members, which includes food, clothing, utilities, personal requirements, shelter, fuel, household supplies, and health care not covered by public health insurance, such as eye and dental care. It also means that the person you sponsor will make every effort to support themselves and their family members.

Take note that, this agreement covers basic needs for the period it covers, even in the case of marriage ending, separation or divorce, family rifts, unemployment, change in finances, and death of the main applicant, if you also sponsor their family members. When you apply, you’ll have to complete and sign a form that includes the undertaking and the sponsorship agreement.

If you live Quebec, you must meet Quebec’s immigration sponsorship requirements after they approve you as a sponsor. The Quebec ministry in charge of immigration will assess your income. Therefore, if they approve you as a sponsor, they’ll send you an information on what to do next. You must also sign an undertaking with the province of Quebec and the length of the undertaking is 10 years for Quebec.