Substitute relative in family
sponsorship
Question: I am
currently looking into the possibility of sponsoring my daughter as a family
class immigrant. She is over 19 but as I
have no other relative living in this country I gathered from the literature
that this was an option. On reading the
literature from Citizen and Immigration Canada a complication has arisen and it
is on this that I require advice. While
I have no relatives living here, my adult son was born in Canada. So he is officially a Canadian citizen
although he has not lived in Canada since he was four years old and he has not
returned to Canada except for the occasional holiday. I would be very grateful for your opinion on
whether I can sponsor my daughter despite my son's citizenship and if so how this
might be accomplished..
Signed "Frances," Ontario, November
1999**
Answer: You could sponsor your daughter,
despite her being over 19 if she is enrolled and in attendance as a full-time
student in an academic, professional or vocational program at a university,
college or other educational institution and
(i)
has been continuously enrolled and in attendance in such a program since
attaining 19 years of age or, if married before 19 years of age, the time of
her marriage, and
(ii)
is determined by an immigration officer, on the basis of information received
by the immigration officer, to be wholly or substantially financially supported
by her parents since attaining 19 years of age or, if married before 19 years
of age, the time of her marriage
If
that is not the case, the one relative exception defines the family class to
include beyond dependents, parents and spouses, the following person:
one relative regardless of the age or relationship of the relative
to the sponsor, where the sponsor does not have a spouse, son, daughter,
father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew
or niece
(i)
who is a Canadian citizen,
(ii)
who is a permanent resident, or
(iii)
whose application for landing the sponsor may otherwise sponsor; (parent)
You may see that the concept of the single-relative exception is
to allow the availability of one relative to come to Canada. Since your son could come to Canada by right
as a citizen, you are not entitled to sponsor your daughter.
If your only relatives were two or more children, none of whom fit
one of three exceptions, you could select one relative over the others. You still have to meet financial eligibility
rules to qualify.
Three alternatives arise:
1. Is it possible that your daughter's father
was Canadian when she was born? That
might give her derivative citizenship and allow her to come to Canada as of
right.
2. Is it possible for your daughter to qualify
as an independent, where she gets points for having a relative in Canada? She needs 70 points, 5 of which she gets for
a having a relative in Canada.
3. The most drastic course would be for your son
to renounce his Canadian citizenship.
That would remove him from the exception and allow you to sponsor your
daughter.
Questions and Answers at
Golishlaw.com
[The law has changed since 1999 when
this answer was posted. See the current Immigration and Refugee
Protection Act, SC 2001, c 27,]
**Last updated 2024-03-05