|
In response to the severity of the earthquake that occurred on January 12, 2010 in Haiti, the Quebec Minister of immigration and cultural communities has implemented programs to provide assistance to victims who are seriously and personally affected by this tragedy. In particular, the measures allow the possibility of third party sponsorships under special humanitarian programs. The program also enables Canadian citizens and permanent residents the opportunity to sponsor members of their family or extended family who are Haitian nationals, who would otherwise not qualify to sponsor under the family sponsorship program.
To qualify as a sponsor:
- Age of majority (18 or over);
- Quebec resident;
- Canadian citizen or Canadian permanent resident;
- Sign an engagement to provide for the basic needs of the person or persons being sponsored (includes food, clothing, personal necessities, and any other expenses pertaining to living accommodations, insofar as the sponsored persons reasonably need them);
- Demonstrate your financial capacity to sponsor the person or persons being sponsored, including their accompanying or non accompanying dependants
You may submit an application to sponsor:
- Alone;
- With a spouse or de facto spouse;
- With a third party (Co-sponsor);
- With a spouse or de facto spouse and a third party (Co-sponsor);
- With a spouse or de facto spouse and a third party (Co-sponsor) and the spouse or de facto spouse of the third party co-sponsor.
As the principal sponsor you must be related to the person being sponsored. If you do not have sufficient income to meet the sponsorship requirements, you may participate with a co-sponsor residing in Quebec. The sponsor and co-sponsor must provide evidence of sufficient financial resources to participate in the undertaking.
Responsibilities of the sponsor:
In signing an undertaking in favour of a close relative, you are contractually responsible to provide for their basic needs (food, clothing, personal necessities, and any other expenses pertaining to living accommodations) throughout the duration of the undertaking.
Persons who may be sponsored:
- Family Class
- Your father or mother;
- Your grand-father or grand-mother;
- your orphaned brother, sister, nephew, niece, grandson or granddaughter, who is under the age of 18, and not married or in a common-law relationship.
- Humanitarian Sponsorship:
- Your brother or sister;
- Your half-brother or half-sister ;
- Your adult child ineligible for sponsorship under Family Class.
Duration of the Undertaking
The duration of the undertaking varies according to the program:
- Humanitarian sponsorship : 5 years
- Family Class sponsorship : varies according to the person being sponsored :
- Spouse, de facto spouse : 3 years
- Child under age 16 years : 10 years or until age of majority (18years) (whichever is longer)
- Child 16 years or older: 3 years or until age 25 years (whichever is longer)
- Father, mother, grand-father, grand-mother : 10 years
Duration of the humanitarian program
The special humanitarian sponsorship program will take effect from February 17, 2010 until December 31, 2010. Sponsorship applications under this program must be filed by December 31, 2010. After this date, it will still be possible to sponsor under the Family Class program.
DISCLAIMER:
The following has been prepared by Colin R. Singer, Attorney At Law, for the intended reference by interested individuals and is not intended to create an attorney-client communication. This writing may be reproduced for the personal non commercial use of interested individuals on the express or implied condition that the contents herein are neither edited, modified nor altered in whole or in part, directly or indirectly without the express written consent of the author herein.
(Canadian Immigration and Employment Law)
|
