The number of Hong Kong residents returning to Canada has increased in recent years. Hong Kong is the place with the largest number of Canadians in Asia with approximately 300,000 Hong Kong residents having Canadian citizenship. For many Canadians residing in Hong Kong,

sponsoring their spouse or common-law partners to work in Canada legally, and allowing children born overseas to enjoy the privileges of Canadian public school system are among their top priorities!

Many Hong Kong residents accompanied their parents to immigrate to Canada before 1997, and later returned to Hong Kong to work and live holding Canadian passports.  Now being parents themselves, many HK Canadians seek to bring their children back to Canada where a better, less stressful English learning environment is highly desirable. 

The IRCC offers a perfect channel where children born overseas to Canadian parents and spouse of Canadians living overseas are entitled to become Canadian citizens through naturalization. The details are as followed:

Subtitle for the picture: Canadians and permanent residence (Sponsors ) can sponsor their spouse, common-law partner, or children born overseas ( Applicants ), who reside outside Canada at the moment of application, to obtain Canadian permanent residency.

Title for next paragraph: Canadians and permanent residence (Sponsors ) can sponsor their spouse, common-law partner, or children born overseas ( Applicants ), who reside outside Canada at the moment of application, to obtain Canadian permanent residency.

Advantages of the program

• The requirements are relatively straightforward and easily achievable, with no specific income      

     and language requirements  

–   The processing time is relatively short, with an average of 12 months;

• Permanent residents of Canada are entitled to all Canadian social and medical benefits except suffrage; and a residency requirement of 730 days out of every 5 years must be fulfilled to retain permanent residency. 

• After 3 consecutive years of residency within the recent 5 years, a permanent resident can then apply to become Canadian citizen via naturalization.

 –  Free access to Canada’s public education system, with the privileges to apply for education  

    loans, governmental grants, better post-secondary institutions  compared to international

    students;

Program Eligibility

You can sponsor your spouse, partner or dependent child if:

• You’re at least 18 years old
• You’re a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act
  • If you’re a Canadian citizen living outside Canada, you must show that you plan to live in Canada when the persons you want to sponsor become permanent residents.
  • You can’t sponsor someone if you’re a permanent resident living outside Canada.
• You’re able to prove that you’re not receiving social assistance for reasons other than a disability
• you can provide for the basic needs of any persons you want to sponsor

If you live outside Quebec

To become a sponsor, you must promise to financially take care of the persons you are sponsoring for a period of time. We call this promise an undertaking.

The undertaking commits you to:

• providing financial support for your sponsored family members, starting when they become permanent residents
• repaying any provincial social assistance 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. We call this the sponsorship agreement.

The sponsorship agreement means that:

• you’ll provide for the basic needs of your sponsored family members
• the person you sponsor will make every effort to support themselves and their family members

When you apply, you’ll have to complete and sign a form that includes the undertaking and the sponsorship agreement.

Income requirement

In most cases, there isn’t an income requirement to sponsor your spouse or partner or dependent child. You only need to show that you have enough money to meet the income requirements if:

• you’re sponsoring a dependent child that has 1 or more dependent children of their own, or
• you’re sponsoring a spouse or partner that has a dependent child, and their dependent child has 1 or more children of their own.

Ineligible sponsors:

You can’t sponsor your spouse, partner or child if:

• you’re less than 18 years old
• you won’t live in Canada when the persons you want to sponsor become permanent residents
• you’re not a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act
• you’re a temporary resident, that is you’re visiting, studying or working in Canada on a visa or permit
• your permanent residence application is still in process
  • You must have permanent resident status at the time you submit your sponsorship application.
• you don’t have enough money to support the persons you want to sponsor (if applicable)

You may not be eligible to sponsor your spouse, partner if you:

• were sponsored by a spouse or partner and you became a permanent resident less than 5 years ago
• are still financially responsible for a previous spouse or partner that you sponsored. This means you’re still bound by the 3 year undertaking to take care of this person.

You may not be eligible to sponsor your spouse, partner or child if you:

• you have already applied to sponsor the spouse, parent or child you are currently seeking to sponsor and a decision on that application hasn’t been made
• are in jail, prison, or a penitentiary
• didn’t pay back:
  • an immigration loan
  • a performance bond
  • court-ordered family support payments such as alimony or child support (not applicable if you live in Quebec)
• didn’t give the financial support you agreed to when you signed a sponsorship agreement to sponsor someone else in the past (not applicable if you live in Quebec)
• declared bankruptcy and are not discharged (not applicable if you live in Quebec)
• receive social assistance for a reason other than a disability
• you were convicted of attempting, threatening to commit or committing a violent criminal offence, any offence against a relative or any sexual offence inside or outside Canada
• can’t legally stay in Canada and must leave the country because you received a Removal Order

Eligible applicants

Your common-law partner

Your common-law partner:

• isn’t legally married to you
• can be either sex
• is at least 18 years old
• has been living with you for at least 12 consecutive months, meaning you’ve been living together continuously for 1 year in a conjugal relationship, without any long periods apart
  • Any time spent away from each other should have been
    • short
    • temporary

If you or your common-law partner choose to end the relationship, we consider the relationship to be over.

Your conjugal partner

Your conjugal partner:

• isn’t legally married to you or in a common-law relationship with you
• can be either sex
• is at least 18 years old
• has been in a relationship with you for at least 1 year
• lives outside Canada
• can’t live with you in their country of residence or marry you because of significant legal and immigration reasons such as
  • their marital status (for example, they’re still married to someone else in a country where divorce isn’t possible)
  • their sexual orientation (for example, you are in a same-sex relationship, and same-sex relationships are not accepted, or same-sex marriage is illegal where they live),
  • persecution (for example, your relationship is between different religious groups which is not accepted and they may be punished legally or socially)

Dependent children

Children qualify as dependants if they meet both of these requirements:

• they’re under 22 years old
• they don’t have a spouse or common law partner

Children 22 years old or older qualify as dependants if they meet both of these requirements:

• they are unable to financially support themselves because of a mental or physical condition
• they have depended on their parents for financial support since before the age of 22

With the exception of age, your dependent child must continue to meet these requirements until we finish processing your application.

General Procedure

Applicants from outside Canada

Processing time:  12 months

1. Sign up with Tian’en;
2. Tian’en is responsible for preparing all necessary documentation and communication regarding the application
3. AOR is received from IRCC through Email
4. Sponsor passes the sponsorship assessment
5. All necessary documentation sent to IRCC processing centres outside Canada
6. Applicants are approved for Permanent residency and are requested to submit passport for Permanent Resident Visa
7. Applicants land on Canadian soil to activate the status of permanent residence
8. Applicants receive their PR Card through mail or are requested to pick up in person

Naturalization:  Children born overseas to Canadian parents

If one of the parents is a Canadian citizen, the child is likely to have legally become a Canadian citizen.

When applying, one of the parents must meet the following qualifications:

Was born in Canada, or

Become a Canadian citizen before the child is born

Application Procedure:

Apply for Canadian citizenship certificate to Immigration Canada (IRCC)

The birth certificate of the child needs to be submitted when applying

If necessary, IRCC will request additional evidence

Application period: 15 months

Application fee: CAD 75

1760600cookie-checkSponsor your spouse, children, and common-law partners / Coming back to Canada / Application and Eligibilityno