3. Decide what to do if IRCC says you’re not eligible to be a sponsor
Question & Answer
How do I sponsor my child or my spouse or partner’s child?When Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) begins to process your application, they decide if you qualify to be a sponsor. This includes rules about financial responsibilities and your status, for example, you cannot be a sponsor if you’ve been convicted of certain crimes.
The sponsorship application form asks you to decide what you’ll do if IRCC decides that you don’t qualify.
You must choose whether you’ll:
- withdraw your application, or
- continue with the application.
If IRCC says you don’t qualify to be a sponsor
If you say you’ll withdraw the application, this means that IRCC will send you a refund of the money you paid to apply, minus $75. But you won’t have the right to appeal their decision.
If you say you want to proceed with your application, this means that IRCC will continue processing it. At the end of the process, they’ll refuse your application. But you may be able to appeal that decision to the Immigration Appeal Division of the .
If you appeal a sponsorship decision
The Immigration Appeal Division can consider or reasons why an application for permanent residence should proceed.
H&C grounds include information about the hardship that you and others would face if you were permanently separated. This includes your , any children, and anyone else who is affected by the sponsorship.
The Immigration Appeal Division can decide to allow the application to proceed. They can do this even if they agree with IRCC that based on the rules you don’t qualify to be a sponsor.
Getting help to decide
The choice that’s best for you depends on your situation. If you don’t qualify for a reason that won’t change, you might want to proceed with your application and then appeal when it’s refused.
So if you don’t expect your situation to change, you may want to get legal advice. An immigration lawyer or a community legal clinic may be able to tell you if you might succeed if you appeal a decision refusing your sponsorship application.
