Some of the provincial nominee programs have family sponsorship programs that offer more flexibility than Canada’s sponsorship program.   The SINP Family Members category is a well-planned program by which close relatives can be sponsored and at the same time get to work and contribute to the Saskatchewan economy.

Here is how it works:

• First, a family member must live in Saskatchewan for at least one year to be eligible to sponsor.  He or she must be self-supporting. The sponsor can be an in-law.
• The relative who is sponsored can be a parent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, first cousin, grandchild, grandparent, or a step-family member in any of these groups. Further, the sponsored can be an in-law, for example, the husband of your aunt.

Finally, to be considered eligible for the SINP Family Members Category, the sponsored family member must:

• Be between 18 - 49 years old
• Have a signed affidavit of support from one or more family members living in Saskatchewan
• Have completed post-secondary education, training, or apprenticeship of at least one year in length and have a diploma, a certificate, or a degree
• Have at least one year of work experience in his or her field of education or training
• Have the English language ability either to do the job he or she has been offered by a Saskatchewan employer or to get a job in his or her field of education or training.
• Have a full-time, permanent job offer from a Saskatchewan Employer  OR intend to find full-time, permanent work in Saskatchewan and have enough money to live in the province for a short time without work after arriving ($10,000 for him or her and $2,000 for each accompanying family member).

If you meet all these criteria, the necessary documents can be gathered and the forms can be prepared and signed.  The material is then sent to the SINP program in Regina where they will review your documents.  [Note for those of you doing this on your own: as of October 1st, 2008, SINP does not want you to send the original CIC forms; just send copies.]

If everything is satisfactory to SINP, they will issue a Nomination Letter.

A copy of this letter is then put with your permanent resident application forms and documents which we send back to the sponsored relative, for four reasons:

1. To review the material one last time before it is sent to the visa office for processing;
2. To revise the forms if anything has changed, e.g. a new address, a baby was born, someone died, etc.
3. To add new material which was not gathered before; typically, this refers to police certificates, photos and processing fees.
4. To sign and date the forms again–this is the relative’s way of saying to CIC that all the information in the forms is current and up to date.

The relative then sends the forms to the visa office which serves the region where he or she is living.  The visa office will now do security, criminality and medical checks.  They will also assess the proof of funds that was provided to ensure there are sufficient funds available to support the relative and family when they arrive in Canada.   If everything is approved, the visa office will then ask the relative to submit the passports to their office in order to receive the permanent resident visa.

While the visa office is processing your permanent resident application, you must advise them if any of the following occurs:

• if your address changes
• if a baby is born into the family.  If you do not let the visa office know, and you think you can sponsor the child later after you become a permanent resident in Canada, you will be shocked to learn you cannot sponsor this child.
• if you get married.  If you do not let the visa office know, and you think you can sponsor the husband or wife later after you become a permanent resident in Canada, you will be shocked to learn you cannot sponsor this spouse.