I have read many posts on this and it seems there is still a lot of confusion going on.
The 3999 Immigrant's guide states:
Persons who should be included in the application
If you are being sponsored as a member of the family class, your spouse or common-law partner (except
where your spouse or common-law partner is the sponsor) must be included in your application as a family
member. You must also include all your dependent children from your current and previous relationships,
whether they will be going with you to Canada (accompanying family members) or not (non-accompanying
family members).
It seems quite clear from this paragraph that family members means only:
> any spouse or common-law partner who is not your sponsor
> any dependent children
And so brothers, sisters and parents are not to be included.
However, the paragraph that follows creates the confusion:
All your family members, whether accompanying you or not, must be declared on your application and be
examined. If family members are not examined, it is generally not possible to sponsor them at a later date.
This includes children in the custody of a former spouse or common-law partner.
However, the way I understand this is that the first paragraph is the most defining.So this second paragraph is only referring to dependent children or a spouse/partner who are accompanying or not, and does not refer to brothers, sisters or parents. So if the family members are not part of the application, they don't need to be mentioned at all, period. Does this make sense?
On page 15, I found a confirmation of this:
Details of family members
Your family members are your spouse or common-law partner, if applicable, and your dependent children
(start with the oldest). You must include all of your family members (who are not already permanent
residents of Canada or Canadian citizens), whether they intend to immigrate with you or not. Any other
relative (your mother, father, sister or brother, for instance) is not considered a family member for the
purpose of this application. If you have more than three family members, attach a separate sheet of paper
with the same information provided in the same order.
So based on this, all references to the words "family members" for any form in application only refer to dependents and non-Canadian or non-permanent resident spouses/partners. In other words, if you don't have dependent children and your spouse or partner is a Canadian or permanent resident, you don't need to fill out the "IMM5406E Additional family information" form.
I was unable to get through to the CIC phone line to confirm this, so I can't say I am 100% correct on this, but it would seem to make sense. Does anyone have any tangible evidence to disprove what I am saying here?
The 3999 Immigrant's guide states:
Persons who should be included in the application
If you are being sponsored as a member of the family class, your spouse or common-law partner (except
where your spouse or common-law partner is the sponsor) must be included in your application as a family
member. You must also include all your dependent children from your current and previous relationships,
whether they will be going with you to Canada (accompanying family members) or not (non-accompanying
family members).
It seems quite clear from this paragraph that family members means only:
> any spouse or common-law partner who is not your sponsor
> any dependent children
And so brothers, sisters and parents are not to be included.
However, the paragraph that follows creates the confusion:
All your family members, whether accompanying you or not, must be declared on your application and be
examined. If family members are not examined, it is generally not possible to sponsor them at a later date.
This includes children in the custody of a former spouse or common-law partner.
However, the way I understand this is that the first paragraph is the most defining.So this second paragraph is only referring to dependent children or a spouse/partner who are accompanying or not, and does not refer to brothers, sisters or parents. So if the family members are not part of the application, they don't need to be mentioned at all, period. Does this make sense?
On page 15, I found a confirmation of this:
Details of family members
Your family members are your spouse or common-law partner, if applicable, and your dependent children
(start with the oldest). You must include all of your family members (who are not already permanent
residents of Canada or Canadian citizens), whether they intend to immigrate with you or not. Any other
relative (your mother, father, sister or brother, for instance) is not considered a family member for the
purpose of this application. If you have more than three family members, attach a separate sheet of paper
with the same information provided in the same order.
So based on this, all references to the words "family members" for any form in application only refer to dependents and non-Canadian or non-permanent resident spouses/partners. In other words, if you don't have dependent children and your spouse or partner is a Canadian or permanent resident, you don't need to fill out the "IMM5406E Additional family information" form.
I was unable to get through to the CIC phone line to confirm this, so I can't say I am 100% correct on this, but it would seem to make sense. Does anyone have any tangible evidence to disprove what I am saying here?