Can I Bring My Family to Canada as a Temporary Resident?

The question you will ask yourself as soon as you are living in Canada, with a work permit or study permit or a visitor visa as a temporary resident, is: can my family be with me? The answer to that is yes, but it depends on your position in life and what is happening in your family.

The immigration policy of Canada is constructed on the concept that family is important. You may be on a temporary basis or seeking to apply for Canada PR, but there are formalized ways of ensuring your loved ones are near you. This is all you need to know.

Who is considered family in Canadian immigration?

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), your immediate family should include your spouse or common-law partner, your dependent children, and dependent children of your children. Other extended family members, such as parents, siblings, in-laws, are usually not covered by temporary resident provisions but might be covered under different programs.

• Spouse / Partner

You are eligible to have an open or closed work permit based on your individual permit.

• Dependent children

Can follow or come later; may study in Canada without a separate study permit.

• Parents/grandparents

Eligible through Super Visa, a multiple-entry visa lasting up to 10 years.

• Extended family

Usually needs a PR pathway of a family sponsorship visa.

• Spouse or partner options.

You are a competent worker on a work permit pursuant to some programs, including the International Mobility Program (IMP) or a program subject to a free trade agreement, and your spouse or common-law partner may be eligible to hold an open work permit. This implies that they would be able to work for any employer within Canada without an employment offer.

With a closed work permit in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the eligibility of your spouse is more limited. In such situations, they can come as a visitor or consider studying permit prospects. Using the help of the most appropriate immigration consultant in India could lead you to understand the proper course of action to follow before you leave on your particular type of permit.

Bringing your children

Dependants are usually children who have not turned 22, have not been married, or are not in a common-law relationship. 

They are allowed to accompany you to Canada, and even when under the age of 18 years, they are allowed to study at primary and secondary school without a separate study permit in most provinces. In the case of post-secondary education, they will require their own study permit.

Super Visa for parents and grandparents

Canada presents a special opportunity to temporary residents wishing to have their parents or grandparents with them. 

The parent and grandparent Super Visa permits eligible relatives to spend up to 5 years in Canada per visit (renewable), on a 10-year visa. The most important thing is that you have to prove that you have enough income and provide them with personal health insurance during their stay.

Family sponsorship: the way to the permanent family reunion

Although temporary options help the families to stay together in the short run, most of the temporary residents have the desire to move their respective families permanently. After you have applied to Canada PR, you can then sponsor your spouse, partner, dependent children and even your parents and grandparents with the family sponsorship visa stream.

Family Class sponsorship program will ensure you are a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen, have minimum income requirements, and agree to support the sponsored family member financially over a specified period. It may take 12 months to do so as a spouse and up to several years to do so as parents, and therefore, it is important to plan early.

• Get your PR status: via Express Entry or via PNP, or via any other route.

• Meet the income criterion: Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) level depending on family size.

• File a sponsorship application together with a permanent residence application of your family member.

• Waiting time IRCC processing: times are different in each category, with spouse/partner applications given a priority.

The importance of professional guidance

The immigration system in Canada has numerous moving components: permit types, provincial differences, evolving IRCC policies, and quotas of applications. 

The failure to deliver a document or an incorrect classification of a relationship may cost your case months or even result in a refusal. By employing the best immigration consultant in India, you are confident that the paperwork of your family is correct, complete and timed in a way that better fits your own immigration journey.

Conclusion

You can have your family with you on your temporary stay, or you can consider the long-term family sponsorship visa route. Once you have applied to Canada PR, there are options at each step. Plan early, know what kind of permit you have, and seek the right advice. Canada has an immigration system that rewards the planner.

Are you willing to reunite your family in Canada?? Discuss with an authorised immigration lawyer the most appropriate and quickest avenue for the family scenario.