Family Class sponsorship enables family members living in different countries to reunite & live together in Canada. The program includes sponsoring children for Canada immigration, thus allowing them to be permanent inhabitants as well. Dependent children, biological or adopted, can be sponsored to reside in Canada with their parents.
For sponsoring children for Canada Immigration, an individual must:
- Be 18 years or older
- Be a citizen of Canada or a permanent resident living in Canada
- Not be in default of a past sponsorship undertaking or be under any kind of immigration investigation
- Be able to provide for the basic needs of the dependent child
- Not receive income assistance, except in situations of disability
- Be able to prove their relationship with the child
- Not have any criminal record, have been charged with a serious offense, or have been in prison
In addition, to be eligible for sponsorship, the child must be a dependent. It implies that they must:
- Be a biological/ adopted child of the permanent inhabitant or citizen of Canada
- Not be married
- Be under 22 years of age
A child above the age of 22 can qualify as a dependent, provided they fulfill two requirements:
- They suffer from a physical/ mental condition that prevents them from being able to support themselves
- They are dependent on their parents for financial support
Dependent children should remain unmarried during the time frame of processing up until the point of becoming permanent inhabitants. In addition, a dependent child who is divorced, widowed, or whose marriage is annulled is also considered a dependent child.
Relationship Between Parent & Child
A dependent child can either be an adopted or biological child. However, the ‘Biological’ term includes children who were:
- Born to the parent making the application
- Not genetically related to the parent, but were born to the person who at the time of birth was the parent’s spouse/ conjugal partner/ common-law partner
- Born via the application of assisted human reproduction technologies
A birth certificate/ baptism certificate can also serve as proof of a biological relationship. In the case of human reproductive technologies, documents suitable for establishing a parent-child relationship are the birth certificates along with authenticated & authorized evidence that indicates that the person claiming to be the parent is the birth mother/ spouse of the mother.
In addition, parents must also demonstrate that they used human reproductive technologies. On the contrary, if the child was born via surrogacy in a foreign nation & he/ she is legally the child of the sponsor, then also the child may be considered a ‘biological’ child.
Lock-In Age Of Dependent Children
The dependent child’s age is locked-in on the date of the receipt of the principal applicant’s permanent residential application. This application consists of all the items in the document checklist for a particular category, including the proof of payment.
This implies that the child who is less than 22 years and is not a spouse/ common-law partner at the time of ‘age lock-in’ continues to be a dependent child even if they turn 22 during the application processing.
Sponsoring children for Canada Immigration – Custody Issues
In addition to sponsoring children for Canada Immigration, an applicant is subjected to custody orders, i.e., they must provide evidence that they are allowed to remove the children from their home country.
Moreover, the parent residing overseas must provide written consent for the child to travel to the country to become a permanent inhabitant. However, the court order might be acceptable if the parent doesn’t wish to provide consent.
As a rule, where the parent provides no consent, the onus is on the applicant to offer evidence that they have sole custody of the dependent child. Further, they will verify that the other parent does not have custody of the child or any object in to the child’s removal from an international nation.
In addition to sponsoring children for Canada Immigration, if the parents are sharing custody of the child, IRCC must get written confirmation from the parent that they have no problem/ objection to the child being processed for a permanent resident in Canada. Fs
All these requirements ensure that the sponsorship does not intend to violate any terms & conditions of the custodial order. In Canada, the child’s best interest is the only consideration in custody arrangements. Thus, an IRCC officer must consider all the situations of the case and give a practical judgment when deciding whether to process an application to sponsor a dependent child where there is no written consent/ confirmation of no objection from the other parent.