My wife is a Canadian citizen. We are both living in the US. My parents are Indian citizens and so am I. My wife and I would like my parents to live/relocate to Canada. What are our options? I see that my wife cannot sponsor my parents through the parents sponsorship program. Since I am not a Canadian citizen, I cannot sponsor my parents for a permanent residency in Canada. Are there any other programs we can make use of to sponsor my parents for Canadian permanent residency?
Can my wife sponsor my parents?
- Thread starter Vittal
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Are you PR? The only way is for your parents to be sponsored is through the annual lottery. You need to be PR and living in Canada for at least 3 years (paying taxes) and meeting LICO (minimum income) for each year. Your parents need to be selected. The program is oversubscribed so you may not be selected for many years. You can’t sponsor them if you are not living in Canada. They can visit. Or once you are living in Canada and meeting LICO, they can apply for a Supervisa which is a long term visitor visa. They can’t work and need health insurance too.
PRs can sponsor their parents. So assuming you are a PR of Canada, you can sponsor your parents.
The issue is that you are living in the US. You have to be living and working in Canada to qualify to sponsor your parents.
There are no other sponsorship programs available. All of the other options would require your parents to qualify for PR on their own through a program like Express Entry.
Thank you both. I am not a PR and neither me nor my wife are living in Canada. Unfortunately, it looks like our options are very limited.
Scylla, thanks for suggesting about Express Entry. I'll look into it. Are there other non-PR options that'll allow my parents to stay in Canada while they are not staying with us in the US?
Scylla, thanks for suggesting about Express Entry. I'll look into it. Are there other non-PR options that'll allow my parents to stay in Canada while they are not staying with us in the US?
Express Entry is a points system based on age, work experience, education (assessments), IELTS. Your parents may not even be eligible if over 40 and not enough education (would need a masters). Only option is visitor visa.
Ah - I see. In that case your wife would have to sponsor you for PR and you would need to return to Canada and live here for 3 years before sponsoring your parents for PR will be possible. So you're many years away from that being possible.
I'm not sure what you mean by non-PR options that allow your parents to stay in Canada while they are not in the US. They can apply for a TRV to come to Canada for a short visit as tourists. However this doesn't allow them to live in Canada and they obviously won't be covered by the health care system or qualify for any other similar benefits.
Express Entry is an economic immigration program. It's points based meaning those with the most points based on age, education, work experience, language abilities, and other factors are selected. Your parents will be at a very significant disadvantage due to their age. However by all means research it to see if this may be possible. They will want to have a score of 480+ to have a decent chance of being selected. More info here: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...ces/immigrate-canada/express-entry/works.html
Thanks, scylla. Getting my PR and then sponsoring my parents is i) a a long away as you mention and ii) not possible since our lives are now in the US and we won't be moving to Canada.
Let me explain our motivation a bit. My parents currently live in India. They are living by themselves and are getting old. We were trying to see if we can wrap up in India and move to North America to either stay with us or close to my in-laws who reside in Toronto.
Since neither me nor my wife are US citizens, we cannot sponsor them for a US Green Card yet (we have 5 more years to go for our citizenship). As a result, their stay with us in the US cannot exceed 180 calendar days. We were hoping that they could stay closer (in Canada) while they have to be outside the US. By non-PR, I was hoping there might exist some other means which allows longer stay than mandated by a TRV, and/or get some health benefits, which they will be in need in the future. Since my wife has lived/worked for 20+ years in Canada before moving to the US, I was wondering if there existed any opportunities that we might have missed.
Let me explain our motivation a bit. My parents currently live in India. They are living by themselves and are getting old. We were trying to see if we can wrap up in India and move to North America to either stay with us or close to my in-laws who reside in Toronto.
Since neither me nor my wife are US citizens, we cannot sponsor them for a US Green Card yet (we have 5 more years to go for our citizenship). As a result, their stay with us in the US cannot exceed 180 calendar days. We were hoping that they could stay closer (in Canada) while they have to be outside the US. By non-PR, I was hoping there might exist some other means which allows longer stay than mandated by a TRV, and/or get some health benefits, which they will be in need in the future. Since my wife has lived/worked for 20+ years in Canada before moving to the US, I was wondering if there existed any opportunities that we might have missed.
There aren't any options unless your parents manage to independently qualify for permanent residency through an economic immigration program like Express Entry. That's all you have.
Would add that they may get TRVs and be able to visit for short amounts of time like a regular tourist but if they are trying to regularly enter Canada for long periods of time they will likely run into issues with CBSA. CBSA will want to see that they have ties to their permanwht home which will need to be India given that they can only visit the US for 6 months. If you have no plans on returnimg to Canada you should be exploring how to set up a support system for your parents in India. They can visit you for 6 months in the US as long as they are healthy. Most health insurance policies are unlikely to cover preexisting conditions that have required recent treatment so they may no longer be able to visit at a ceetsin point due to health issues and the inability to get health insurance. Once you have more permanent status in the US you can look at having your parents move to the US.
Why do you want your parents to settle in Canada while you are not there?
Your wife can't sponsor her parents (if they are not yet Canadians) when she is not living in Canada. And she cannot sponsor your parents.
And for your parents, you have to become PR, live in Canada and if the rule hasn't changed by then, have 3 years of income that meets the LICO of your famly size and then enter into a lottery. Once your application is selected by the lottery, then you can send in the application. Lottery has been once/twice a year in the previous years.
It's a long way if you haven't even apply for PR yourself (or being sponsored).
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