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Adopting a child from another country and bringing them home to Canada is really two separate processes, run by two levels of government. The adoption itself is handled by your province or territory. Bringing the child to Canada as a citizen or a permanent resident is handled afterwards by the federal immigration department, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). This page walks through both in order, in plain words, with the official page linked at every step. Everything here is free to read, and our report does not assess this route, because the person applying is the child rather than you.
This page is for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who is adopting, or has already adopted, a child from another country and wants that child to live in Canada. If you are sponsoring a husband, wife or partner instead, read Canada's spouse and partner sponsorship, explained. If you are moving to Canada yourself and want your own children to come with you, that is a different arrangement, covered in bringing your spouse and children with you to Canada.
In IRCC's own words, "the provinces or territories are responsible for the adoption process", while the federal government handles the child's immigration or citizenship (IRCC: adoption authorities contacts). So there is no single application that does everything. You complete, or at least begin, the adoption with your province, and only then apply to IRCC to bring the child to Canada.
Every province and territory has a central adoption authority, the government office that approves adoptive parents, arranges the home study (a social worker's assessment of your home and family) and deals with the child's country. Contact yours before you do anything else; IRCC says you "should contact your provincial or territorial adoption authority to find out if you're eligible to adopt" (IRCC: how to apply to sponsor your adopted child).
Many countries, including Canada, have signed the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption, an international agreement that sets safeguards so that an adoption across borders is done in the child's best interests and through official channels rather than private arrangements. When the child's country has signed it too, the adoption has to follow the Convention's rules, and your provincial authority guides you through them. IRCC's eligibility page lists meeting the Hague Convention requirements, where they apply, among the conditions the adoption must satisfy (IRCC: check if you're eligible to sponsor an adopted child).
Once the adoption is in progress or complete, IRCC takes over, and you choose one of two routes.
IRCC's route-choosing page sets out the two options (IRCC: choose a process for your adopted child). If the words citizen and permanent resident are new to you, our guide to visas, permanent residence and citizenship explains the difference first.
This is a direct grant of Canadian citizenship to the child. To use it, the child must "have at least 1 adoptive parent who is a Canadian citizen at the time of the adoption", and that parent must be able to pass citizenship on to the child by descent, meaning through the parent-child link rather than by living in Canada (IRCC: who can apply for citizenship for an adopted child). At the end, the child receives a certificate of Canadian citizenship. No medical exam is required, although IRCC recommends one. Two consequences are worth knowing: the child "could lose their foreign nationality or citizenship", and the first-generation limit applies to the child's own future children. That limit is the rule that citizenship passed by descent generally stops after one generation born outside Canada, so a child made a citizen this way may not be able to pass it on to a child of their own born abroad.
Anyone adopted at 18 or older cannot use this route, because the genuine parent-child relationship has to exist before adulthood.
This is family sponsorship: the Canadian parent, who may be a citizen or a permanent resident, sponsors the child for permanent residence. At the end, the child receives a permanent resident visa and a permanent resident card on arrival, and "will not lose their foreign nationality or citizenship". A medical exam is required. The child can apply for citizenship later in the ordinary way, and citizenship gained that way is not subject to the first-generation limit.
You must use the immigration route if neither parent was a Canadian citizen at the time of the adoption, if the first-generation limit means you cannot pass citizenship by descent, or if the child's country requires a probationary period before the adoption is final. You must use the citizenship route if the child will not live in Canada right after the adoption and citizenship steps are complete. If at least one parent was a Canadian citizen at the adoption and can pass citizenship on, you may use either, and the differences above decide it.
The sponsor must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, at least 18 years old, and living in Canada; a citizen living abroad must show they will live in Canada when the child becomes a permanent resident. Sponsors in Quebec must also meet Quebec's own sponsorship requirements. You cannot sponsor if you defaulted on a court-ordered support payment such as child support, failed to meet the terms of an earlier sponsorship, or were convicted of certain violent offences (IRCC: eligibility).
The adoption must be legal both in the child's home country and in your province or territory, must end the legal relationship between the child and the birth parents, must create a genuine parent-child relationship, must be in the best interests of the child, and must "not be primarily to gain permanent resident status". Both birth parents, where living, must have given informed consent. The child is normally under 18; an adoption at 18 or older qualifies only if it was completed outside Canada.
We do not print processing times, because they change. IRCC publishes its current estimates for family sponsorship and citizenship applications in its processing times tool, selected by application type.
Our questionnaire and report do not assess intercountry adoption, and this is deliberate. Every route the report does assess is one where the reader is the applicant. Here the applicant is the child: the requirements are about the adoption and the child's situation, and your own status as sponsor is only one part of it. A verdict card on your report could not honestly say anything about a child we have never asked about, so instead we explain the route here, free, and point you to the people who can help.
IRCC's adopt a child from abroad pages, your province or territory's adoption authority and IRCC's client support can help you with this at no cost. You do not need to pay anyone to ask for the protections on this page.
Before you pay anyone for immigration advice, ask for their licence or registration number and check it with the regulator for the country you are applying to. IRCC explains who may be paid to represent you and how to check.
Our free questionnaire and our full report do not assess the routes on this page. We wrote it because people arrive asking about them, and everything here is free to read.