This article was last updated on July 9, 2026

Summary

Refugees seeking to reunite with family members have different processes depending on how long they have been in Canada.

If you are a refugee and your family member in Canada arrived as a refugee, or your family member is in Canada as a protected person, there are a number of potential ways you may be able to reunite with certain relatives in Canada if you meet the relevant requirements.

One-Year Window Program

One possible pathway is the One-Year Window (OYW) Program, which allows resettled refugees (government-assisted or privately sponsored) and Protected Persons in Canada to apply for family reunification with non-accompanying family members within one year of you arriving to Canada. This applies only to you if your non-accompanying family members was declared in your initial application and must be declared and/or born before you went to Canada. Eligible family members include: 

• Spouses/common-law partners
• Biological/adopted children 
• Dependents under 22

Family class pathway

Family class pathway is the main pathway for family reunification to Canada and is not specifically for refugees or Protected Persons. To sponsor a family member you must be a Canadian permanent resident or citizen, at least 18 years of age, and be able to financially support the family member for several years. 

Non-accompanying family members must have been declared in your initial application for entry to Canada. Eligible family members include:

• Spouses/common-law partners
• Biological/adopted children
• Dependents under 22
• Parents and grandparents (although sponsorship of parents and grandparents is paused as of 15 July 2026 and until further notice)
• Other family members may also be considered in special circumstances 

Other pathways

There are several other pathways that could allow for family reunification including “concurrent processing”, the Government-Assisted Refugee program (GAR), private sponsorship, labor and education pathways, and various humanitarian pathways.

The Family Reunification Network, with the help of RefugePoint, has developed a valuable resource walking through each of these options and the respective eligibility criteria in its Quick Reference Guide on Family Reunification Avenues to Canada.

The Canadian government’s website with information about refugee family reunification for all provinces except Quebec is here. Information about Quebec’s process for refugee family reunification is here.

If you have been in Canada for more than one year or you otherwise do not qualify for the OYW program, the Canadian government website about family reunification is here. Information about Quebec's family reunification process is here. 

More information about reuniting with an immediate relative is here. Information about reuniting with more distant relatives is here.

In limited circumstances, residents and citizens of Canada can also sponsor refugees for resettlement to Canada through private sponsorship. Information on private sponsorship of refugees is here. More resources are here in Amharic, Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, and Tigrinya.

Asking for help

You or your relative may want to ask an immigration attorney for help with this process. Here are a few resources:

Help from IRAP

• Information about asking for help from IRAP is here.
• If you are in Jordan, you can ask for IRAP Jordan’s help using this form. If the form is closed, you can check back at a later date.

Help from other organizations

• A list of free immigration legal service providers in the United States is available here. These attorneys are not affiliated with IRAP.
• A list of private immigration attorneys in the United States is available here. Please note that private immigration attorneys may charge a fee for their services. These attorneys are not affiliated with IRAP.