Immigration Corner | Electrician wants to know if his sister can sponsor him

Dear Miss Powell:

My sister is a citizen in Canada. Can she sponsor me? I have a trade skill as an electrician and my sister says that there are lots of jobs around her area for electricians. How can I get to Canada and work as an electrician? My sister says I could live with her. How can she help me to move to Canada?

- L.J.

Dear L.J.:

The Canadian immigration system is designed to meet job demands, as well as to foster the unification of family members. There is indeed a demand for electricians in Canada. However, you must be able to meet the educational and training standard in order to qualify for these jobs.

That being said, the rules relating to sponsorship of family members have changed over the years, thus making it a little more challenging for siblings to sponsor each other unless specific conditions apply.

Your sister can help you to become a permanent resident and help you to move to Canada permanently if you are both able to satisfy the conditions under the sponsorship of family members' class or the federal skilled trade worker class.

If you are under 18 years of age, an orphan, not married or in a common-law relationship, your sister could sponsor you provided that she qualifies as a sponsor. You did not say your age or whether your parents are alive. That is a critical first step to assessing your eligibility under this category.

Another important factor is that your sister must be over 18 years old and able to take care of you financially. She must produce evidence that she has an income that meets or exceeds the minimum necessary income, based on the annual Low-Income Cut-offs (LICO) table published by the Government of Canada. She will be required to produce documents that must reflect her financial resources for the past 12 months and prove she is financially able to sponsor you as a member of the family class.

She will be required to undertake to the Government of Canada that she will be responsible for your care and protection and that you will not need the assistance of the government for the period of time stipulated. Essentially, the undertaking is an unconditional promise of support to you financially. This includes taking care of your food, housing, and all your personal needs. So if your situation or that of your sister changes during the period of undertaking, the duty will still remain. For example, if you get citizenship, either of you gets married, divorced, separated, or if the relationship breaks down or either of you moves to another province, these circumstances do not cancel the undertaking. The undertaking also remains in effect even if your sister's financial situation deteriorates.

If you are over 18 years old, your sister could still sponsor you if she is single and does not have any other relative living in Canada. That is, she must not have a spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, son, daughter, mother, father, brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew who is a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, or who she could sponsor as a member of the family class.

Another critical factor is that your sister cannot be receiving social assistance for a reason other than disability, she can't be an undischarged bankrupt, be under a removal order, detained in a penitentiary, jail, reformatory or prison, to name a few of the requirements.

If your sister is not eligible to sponsor you under the family-class category, then the next step is to evaluate whether you qualify to apply to become a permanent resident independently under the Federal Skilled Trades category of the express entry system. You will be granted additional points for having a sister in Canada.

The requirements for self-sponsorship are different as under this category, you will need to prove to the Canadian government that you are able to financially support yourself in the absence of a valid job offer. If you are able to get a valid job offer, then you may also apply for a work permit and then later apply for permanent residence.

There could be many options available to you, so I recommend that you contact an authorised immigration lawyer and provide details about your background and current situation to advise you of the best option for you.

- Deidre S. Powell is a lawyer, mediator, and notary public who is a member of the Jamaican and Ontario, Canada, bars, with main office located in Ottawa, Ontario. Her areas of practice are in immigration, real estate, family, mediation, and administration of estates. Email: info@deidrepowell.com. Subject line: Immigration Find her on facebook.com/jamaicanlawyer Call 613.695.8777