Sponsoring niece

[Knowan]

My girlfriend is from Colombia, and has been a Canadian citizen for 13 years. She would like to sponsor her 14 year old niece to come live with her in Newfoundland, Canada. The problem is that her father is still in Colombia, and he has no intention of leaving. If im reading the regulations correctly, my girlfriend is eligible to sponsor a niece only if her direct family, which includes her father, has already been sponsored.

Is there any way around this? She has discussed adopting her niece, but of course her niece's mother was against this.

Other info: my girlfriend meets the income requirements, and has been employed in a hospital since 2011 making over 55k a year. She was originally sponsored by a church group, and repaid her flight costs in full. She was on social assistance for 1 year, that was 11 years ago. She has 2 daughters with her, both in their 20's.

Her niece has one younger brother and one older sister. She is the child of my girlfriend's brother, however they divorced in 2010. All 3 children currently live with their mother, who is unrelated by blood (former sister-in-law).

 

[monkeys89]

No. She is not eligible to be sponsored by your girlfriend.

 

[scylla]

Even if she adopted the niece, sponsorship still wouldn't be possible since she's not an orphan. IRCC would classify this as an adoption of convenience entered into primarily for the reason of being able to bring her to Canada.

 

[Knowan]

Thats what i thought. Reading the regulations, the only solutions I could come up with was A) sponsoring her father, which he is resistant to, B) Adopting her niece, which her nieces mother is resistant to, or C) getting her a student visa, going to high school in Newfoundland and returning to Colombia in the summer. Option C is increasingly looking like the best option, but is also the most expensive. As a non-citizen the high school will charge $9000/year for tuition. My girlfriend could possibly afford this for Oone year.

 

[scylla]

Thats what i thought. Reading the regulations, the only solutions I could come up with was A) sponsoring her father, which he is resistant to, B) Adopting her niece, which her nieces mother is resistant to, or C) getting her a student visa, going to high school in Newfoundland and returning to Colombia in the summer. Option C is increasingly looking like the best option, but is also the most expensive. As a non-citizen the high school will charge $9000/year for tuition. My girlfriend could possibly afford this for Oone year.

A) I'm not clear on who you mean by "her father". If you are referring to the niece's father (meaning your girlfriend's brother), he cannot be sponsored. If he wishes to immigrate to Canada, he would have to qualify on his own through an economic immigration program like Express Entry. If you are referring to your girlfriend's father, then she can sponsor him but this in no way helps the niece or changes her situation.
B) Again, not doable. This would only work if the niece was an orphan (i.e. both parents are deceased). Even if she adopts the niece, IRCC will not approve the sponsorship.
C) This is the only realistic option. The niece would need a study permit and would have to pay international student fees. $9K is actually on the low side. Generally the cost is around $15K per year.

 

[Knowan]

Clarifi

A) I'm not clear on who you mean by "her father". If you are referring to the niece's father (meaning your girlfriend's brother), he cannot be sponsored. If he wishes to immigrate to Canada, he would have to qualify on his own through an economic immigration program like Express Entry. If you are referring to your girlfriend's father, then she can sponsor him but this in no way helps the niece or changes her situation.
B) Again, not doable. This would only work if the niece was an orphan (i.e. both parents are deceased). Even if she adopts the niece, IRCC will not approve the sponsorship.
C) This is the only realistic option. The niece would need a study permit and would have to pay international student fees. $9K is actually on the low side. Generally the cost is around $15K per year.

Clarification: the father I am referring to is my girlfriends father, not the nieces father. Sorry for not making that clearer. According to my interpretation of the regulations, my girlfriend can sponsor her niece only AFTER sponsoring her own father, which is not a realistic option.

So student visa it is. I've been hosting exchange students for a number of years now, and have reached put to the owner of the company for assistance. She stated that she could help us with the paperwork and get the high school tuition costs down to $7500.

So the most realistic path would be to wait a year, sponsor her niece for grade 11 and 12, then have her niece apply on her own merits. With graduation from a Canadian highschool, strong english, a relative in Canada, and possibly a job offer she would stand a good chance of getting perminent residence, but would still not be guaranteed.

 

[scylla]

Clarification: the father I am referring to is my girlfriends father, not the nieces father. Sorry for not making that clearer. According to my interpretation of the regulations, my girlfriend can sponsor her niece only AFTER sponsoring her own father, which is not a realistic option.

No - that's not how it works. Your girlfriend would only be able to sponsor her niece if she meets ALL of the following conditions:

- she has no spouse / common law partner
- she has no children
- both of her parents are deceased
- she has no other family members in Canada (e.g. aunt, uncle, etc.)

Since she has children and also her father is still alive, she does not qualify to sponsor her niece.

Again, study permit is the only option.

 

[scylla]

So the most realistic path would be to wait a year, sponsor her niece for grade 11 and 12, then have her niece apply on her own merits. With graduation from a Canadian highschool, strong english, a relative in Canada, and possibly a job offer she would stand a good chance of getting perminent residence, but would still not be guaranteed.

Highly unlikely she would qualify to immigrate with only a high school education. She would almost certainly need to have completed at least a diploma (if not a bachelor degree) and also have at least a year of skilled full time (paid) work experience. Even then, it won't be a slam dunk.

 

[Knowan]

No - that's not how it works. Your girlfriend would only be able to sponsor her niece if she meets ALL of the following conditions:

- she has no spouse / common law partner
- she has no children
- both of her parents are deceased
- she has no other family members in Canada (e.g. aunt, uncle, etc.)

Since she has children and also her father is still alive, she does not qualify to sponsor her niece.

Again, study permit is the only option.

Ah, thank you for that clarification. Study permit it is!