Every program sits behind one of three doors. Family, if you are the spouse, partner, child or parent of a Canadian or a permanent resident. Economic, if you can support yourself here. Refugee, if you were displaced or persecuted, and the door you come through decides which rules you face.
(1)A foreign national may be selected as a member of the family class on the basis of their relationship as the spouse, common-law partner, child, parent or other prescribed family member of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
(2)A foreign national may be selected as a member of the economic class on the basis of their ability to become economically established in Canada.
(3)A foreign national, inside or outside Canada, may be selected as a person who under this Act is a Convention refugee or as a person in similar circumstances, taking into account Canada’s humanitarian tradition with respect to the displaced and the persecuted.