Applications for permanent residence
This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.
An applicant’s family member who is either a spouse or common-law partner, regardless of age, will be charged $635.
Family members under the age of 22 who are not spouses or common-law partners will be charged $175.
It is not essential that such a family member be considered as “accompanying” their parent(s). The applicable fee will be the same whether a family member is included on a parent’s application or is sponsored at a later time as long as the application is made before the family member turns 22 years of age.
Please note that for a principal applicant who is a dependent child, this would be an application for humanitarian and compassionate consideration (H&C application) and the fees would be $635.
The basic rule of cost recovery is that all proposed immigrants are subject to payment of a processing fee, unless there has been an exemption identified. Where family members are concerned, the determining factors for applying the cost recovery fee are:
- age
- dependency
- status as a spouse or common-law partner.
Place of residence is not a factor in determining the processing fee.
Maximum fees
Effective with the coming into force of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations on June 28, 2002, the determinant for application of the maximum fee is the combination of the client’s class, age and marital status.
The threshold age for maximum fees has been raised from 19 to 22 years of age for family members, if they are not spouses or common-law partners.
Collection of fees
Fees shall be collected only for persons intending to immigrate. It is a requirement to list all family members as defined in IRPR 3 on an application for permanent residence. However, care must be taken not to collect processing fees for those family members who will not be immigrating. [R294]
Since the introduction of IRPA, the fee for the permanent resident card (PR card) is included in the fee for all applications for permanent residence. Only those clients who landed before the coming into force of IRPA or who acquired permanent resident status under IRPA but did not meet the regulatory requirement to pick up their PR card within 180 days of production will be required to pay the separate $50 PR card processing fee. See Permanent Resident Card.
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