How Canada's Biometrics Fee Cap Defines Who Counts as Family

Biometrics — a set of fingerprints and a digital photo — are required for most visitor visa, work permit and study permit applicants, and the fee for it has a family cap much like the visitor visa fee does. But biometrics fee cap who counts as family draws its line somewhere narrower than a lot of applicants expect, and it’s worth checking against a simple list before assuming the whole household qualifies.

The 85 dollar versus 170 dollar biometrics fee explained

Biometrics cost $85 per individual. Applying as part of an eligible family group caps the total at $170, provided everyone applies at the same time. The 85 dollar versus 170 dollar biometrics fee explained plainly: for a family of two applying together, $170 is exactly two individual fees, so the cap makes no difference yet. It’s only once a third eligible family member joins the application that the cap starts genuinely saving money — a family of three, four or more eligible members, applying together, still pays only $170 total.

Spouse and dependent children biometrics fee cap — who’s actually on the list

Here’s the checklist that matters: the spouse and dependent children biometrics fee cap covers exactly three categories — your spouse or common-law partner, your dependent children, and your dependent children’s own dependent children. That’s the full eligible group. Everyone in that group, applying at the same time, shares the $170 maximum between them regardless of how many of them there are.

Why grandparents don’t count toward the family biometrics fee

This is the detail that catches families off guard: why grandparents don’t count toward the family biometrics fee comes down to the cap being defined around the nuclear-family relationships listed above, not around the broader idea of “family” a household might use day to day. A grandparent travelling or applying alongside their adult child and grandchildren is not part of that capped group, and is billed the individual $85 fee on their own, separate from whatever the rest of the family pays under the cap. The same applies to parents of an adult applicant, or siblings — the cap simply doesn’t extend to them.

Building your own checklist before applying

For a family working out their total biometrics cost before applying, the useful exercise is going through each traveller and checking whether they fall into one of the three eligible categories — spouse or common-law partner, dependent child, or a dependent child’s own dependent child — or whether they fall outside it, like a parent, grandparent or sibling, in which case they’re billed individually on top of whatever the capped group pays. Getting this wrong before applying doesn’t cause a problem with the application itself, but it does mean the total cost estimate a family works out in advance can be off if a grandparent or parent was assumed to be included in the cap.

Where to confirm your own family’s eligibility

Biometrics requirements and exemptions (for instance, for applicants who’ve provided biometrics recently) change and vary by application type. Confirming exactly who in your specific family group is biometrics-exempt or eligible for the cap is best done against IRCC’s current guidance directly, or with a licensed immigration consultant if your family’s composition is more complex than the categories described above.