Change in the principal applicant

A change in principal applicant for a family class sponsorship can only occur in a sponsorship application for a parent or grandparent and their dependent spouse or common law partner. If the principal applicant passes away during processing of the application, an officer is authorized to process the surviving spouse or partner as the principal applicant. To qualify, that person must be a family class member in their own right, i.e. also be the sponsor’s parent or grandparent.

When the surviving spouse or partner is a step-parent or step-grandparent of the sponsor, a processing office may examine the circumstances to determine if granting an exemption from membership in the family class is justified on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

If there is a change in the principal applicant, CPC-M contacts the sponsor to request an updated IMM 1344 (PDF, 589 KB) and IMM 0008 (PDF, 553 KB). No additional fees are required. With the submission of the new application for permanent residence, the lock-in date for determining eligibility of any dependent children remains the date on which IRCC received the original complete sponsorship application package.