Sponsorship

Canadian permanent residents, Canadian citizens undertaking a guardianship role, or Canadian citizens completing an adoption process from within Canada must first sponsor a child before appling for their permanent residence. Canadian citizens adopting children overseas do not have to go through the sponsorship or permanent residence procedures and may immediately apply for the child to become a Canadian citizen.

Sponsorship means you must sign an undertaking with the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (or with the ministère de l'Immigration et des Communautés culturelles (MICC) if you live in Quebec), promising to provide financial support for an adopted child's basic requirements.

Basic requirements are food, clothing, shelter and other basic requirements for everyday living. Dental care, eye care and other health needs not covered by public health services are also included. You may submit a sponsorship for a child before you have selected your child. Once the child has been selected, you must contact the appropriate visa office and provincial authorities.

If a sponsorship is approved, an application for permanent residence must be submitted. Under normal circumstances, an application for permanent residence will be approved if the child passes an immigration medical examination and if a visa officer is satisfied that the adoption will create a genuine parent-child relationship. It will not be approved if a visa officer concludes that the purpose of the adoption is to gain admission for the child or the child's relatives.

Before you can get the visa, you must do the following:

• obtain a letter from the provincial or territorial authorities stating that they have no objection to the adoption. Citizenship and Immigration Canada will make this request directly to the appropriate provincial or territorial authorities at the time of the sponsorship approval;
• provide a written statement confirming that the sponsor of a child has obtained information about the medical condition of the child whom the sponsor has adopted or is in the process of adopting outside Canada, or intends to adopt in Canada. If you are sponsoring a child adopted abroad or whom you intend to adopt in Canada, make sure you obtain the medical information.