Bringing my niece( a toddler ) from Australia to raise here

[Ramzi Rais]

Hello all,

so here is the situation, My sister had twin daughters 6 months ago in Australia, now she has 5 in total the oldest is 7.

She is having some serious medical complications and she can't raise all five by herself, in fact the government in Australia suggested that she brings one of her family members to live with her and aid with raising the kids.
I suggested that my wife and i would help her raise one of the twins by bringing her to Montreal; obviously with my sister and her husband providing us with official consent.

The baby has an Australian passport, does anyone know anything about a similar situation and can help us with tips, or where to call to inquire information about the legal paper work we need to do.

Do I have to literally apply for a sponsorship application to bring my niece here!?
Do Australian citizens require permanent residency here in Montreal!?

can someone help me please with any tips!


Thank you very much

 

[scylla]

Unfortunately there's likely no way for you to sponsor your niece. If she was an orphan, it would be quite straight forward. However since both parents are still alive, you would have to legally adopt your niece first in order to apply to sponsor her. However even if you do that, there's no guarantee CIC will approve the sponsorship - they will most likely classify it as an adoption of convenience that has been completely solely for the purposes of bringing your niece to Canada (which is in fact exactly what you're trying to do).

Let's say you moved to Australia for a year or two and the niece lived with you during that time and you effectively became her parents (i.e. provided for her both financially and emotionally). Then the adoption and sponsorship could have a chance of succeeding. As things stand now, I unfortunately don't see this working out.

And yes - she requires permanent residency to live in Canada (the province is not material).

 

[Ramzi Rais]

Thank you very much,

What you are saying makes sense in terms of sponsoring procedures.

but I am just curious about one thing though, let's say my sister and her husband wanted me to look after their kid here in Montreal for a 6 months. Can I technically go to Australia and bring my niece with me back to Montreal to stay for 6 months as a visitor, providing documents from her parents including the consent, and documents by me that i will provide her with financial and emotional support !? I mean can people do that in general without sponsorship!?

 

[scylla]

Thank you very much,

What you are saying makes sense in terms of sponsoring procedures.

but I am just curious about one thing though, let's say my sister and her husband wanted me to look after their kid here in Montreal for a 6 months. Can I technically go to Australia and bring my niece with me back to Montreal to stay for 6 months as a visitor, providing documents from her parents including the consent, and documents by me that i will provide her with financial and emotional support !? I mean can people do that in general without sponsorship!?

Yes - you could certainly bring her as a visitor provided you have the required paperwork from both parents (my guess is you'd have to get some sort of temporary legal guardianship or something like that). Keep in mind that she would only be a visitor in Canada and as such, not covered by the health care system. So you would have to pay for health insurance to cover emergencies and then pay for non-emergency care out of pocket. She also wouldn't qualify for anything like CCTB - or any day care subsidies. But other than that - should be feasible. Bringing here here for six months is quite a bit different than sponsoring her here to live with you for several years / permanently.

 

[Ramzi Rais]

Thank you very much for a helping me out with perfect answers!

I really appreciate your time and effort