Canada Immigration (Permanent Resident) Visas may be issued to federal and Quebec skilled workers, provincial nominees, people who have studied and/or worked in Canada, and business persons under Canada's economic immigration categories. Close family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents may be issued Canada Immigration Visas through family sponsorship. Finally, Canada issues permanent resident visas to qualified asylum seekers and certain individuals on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Your spouse/common-law partner/conjugal partner and any dependent children must be included in the application. Dependent children must be under the age of 19 years, or, if they are 19 and older, they must be full-time students and not have interrupted their education since the age of 19. Your dependents will be subject to medical and security clearance requirements. A change in family status after your application has been submitted may affect the processing of your application.

Parents generally cannot be included in your application, and cannot currently be sponsored for Canadian permanent residency. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has indicated that the Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Program will reopen on January 3, 2017. Parents and grandparents may, at this time, be eligible for the parent and grandparent super visa.

IRCC affords equal rights under the Canada immigration application process to same-sex partners.

Certain provinces have been given the authority by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to select or nominate candidates for immigration destined to their respective province under the Provincial Nominee Program.

Quebec has exclusive authority to select candidates who intend to reside in that province. These applicants are subject to Quebec's selection criteria, in addition to Federal medical and security clearance requirements. They must also pay an additional fee for processing by Quebec immigration authorities. Applicants who qualify under the Federal selection requirements may not necessarily satisfy Quebec's selection requirements, and vice versa.

We recommend that you complete and submit an online assessment of your eligibility for immigration to Canada. You may do so as a skilled worker applicant, a business applicant, or a family class applicant.