Family Sponsorship Fees: A Worked-Out Example for a Spouse and Two Children
$1,790. That’s the actual federal government total for a family sponsorship fees worked example most South African couples will recognise: one spouse already settled in Canada, sponsoring a partner and two dependent children to join them. Not an estimate, not a “budget roughly” figure — the line items add up to that exact number, and here’s how.
Line one: the spouse or partner
Sponsoring a spouse or common-law partner costs $660 for sponsorship and processing on its own, or $1,260 if the $600 Right of Permanent Residence Fee (RPRF) is paid at the same time rather than later. Most couples pay it upfront to avoid a second payment step delaying the file. The RPRF has one genuinely useful feature: it’s refundable if the application is withdrawn or refused before your spouse becomes a permanent resident, which makes it less risky to prepay than it first appears.
This spousal sponsorship fee breakdown is identical whether the spouse is applying from South Africa or already living with you in Canada — the same rates apply either way.
Line two and three: the children
Each dependent child sponsored alongside a parent costs $180. Two children means $360 on top of the spouse’s fee. This is a genuinely useful dependent child sponsorship fee canada reference point, because it’s the number that keeps getting misquoted as “the same as an adult” in forum threads — it isn’t. It’s roughly a quarter of the spousal rate, per child.
Line four: biometrics, and the family discount
Everyone in the application over a certain age needs biometrics — fingerprints and a digital photo. Charged individually, that’s $85 per person. But IRCC caps the fee for a family applying together at $170 total, regardless of whether that family has two members or six. For this four-person household, the family cap saves real money compared with paying separately, and it’s one of the easiest savings to miss if nobody mentions it.
Adding it up
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Spouse (sponsorship + processing + RPRF) | $1,260 |
| Dependent child × 2 | $360 |
| Biometrics (family cap) | $170 |
| Total government fees | $1,790 |
What this total does not include
This is the part every cost-of-sponsorship article owes its readers honestly: $1,790 is the federal fee schedule only. It doesn’t include medical exams, police certificates, document translation, courier costs, or the fee for a registered immigration consultant or lawyer if you use one. For most families those add-ons meaningfully increase the real number, sometimes by more than the government fees themselves.
It’s also worth flagging that eligibility to sponsor — meeting the income and undertaking requirements, and confirming your specific family’s application is structured correctly — is genuinely case-specific. A licensed RCIC or immigration lawyer is the right place to confirm that your own numbers, timeline and documents line up, especially before you commit to paying the RPRF upfront. Think of this family sponsorship fees worked example as the solid ground to plan a budget on; it isn’t a substitute for advice tailored to your file.