Once you have permanent residence in a country, you may want other members of your family to come and live with you. This might be children under 18 or other extended relatives who don’t intend to work, if this is the case there are processes that need to be followed with each country acting differently. Here are the processes and procedures for each country.
Once you have permanent residence in a country, you may want other members of your family to come and live with you. This might be children under 18 or other extended relatives who don’t intend to work, if this is the case there are processes that need to be followed with each country acting differently. Here are the processes and procedures for each country.
US
As an immediate relative of a US citizen you can be sponsored for a green card as long as you are either a parent, child, siblings or spouse of a permanent resident. You will have to apply for a family-based immigrant visa and these are split into two categories:
- Immediate relatives
- Family preference
It is important to note that cousins, in-laws, grandparents, uncles and aunts cannot be immigration sponsors and in order for sponsors to apply they must be over 21 years old and have principle residence in the US. If these criteria are met, you can apply and you will need to pay the fees relating to petitions, visa applications and associated costs relating to sponsorship.
Canada
In order to apply under this criteria, you need to apply to the Canadian family class. Sponsors are required to prove that they have the resources to provide support to all those they wish to sponsor and will be responsible for all requirements including:
- Utilities
- Housing
- Food
- Personal Expenses
- Clothes
This requirement can be met using a co-signing sponsor such as a spouse however they must meet the same criteria as requested in the visa applications. To sponsor your relatives you must be a permanent resident that is a at least 18 years old with Canadian citizenship. If you feel you are eligible you can apply using the usual visa application process and are aware that you are liable for any fees.
Australia
Australian family visas are slightly more complicated as it requires you applying for a visa that is specific to your situation, for example:
- Adoption/Child Visas
- Partner Category Visas
- Relative Visas
- Parent Category Visa (as well as a temporary parent category visa that lasts for 5 years)
- Carer Visas
- Aged Dependants
All have different criteria depending on your situation but as long as you are an Australian citizen you can apply for many of them at once that all belong to the “family stream” immigration process. Note that in some cases you may be capped at how many you can apply for and they will be dealt with in the order of application, meaning that you may have to wait until some of the applications are filled until you meet the requirements.
UK
If you wish your family members to live with you longer than 6 months in the UK you need to apply for a family visa and you can apply for your:
- Fiancé
- Spouse
- Civil partner
- Parent
- Child
- Long-term carer
To come and stay with you; you’ll need to follow a range of criteria including an income and English knowledge requirement as well as attend an interview. If your process runs smoothly it can take between 8-12 weeks for the application to be approved but note that criminal convictions can slow the process significantly.
Hopefully this allows you to better navigate the immigration processes of different countries so that non-working children or family members can join you. One important point to remember is that you should always be honest when making an application without trying to mislead authorities, making fraudulent claims can harm visa applications and immigration statuses now and in the future.
Tags: Migration Brokers Sponsorship, Family Sponsorship, US Sponsorship, Canada Sponsorship, UK Sponsorship.