Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations

r. 23 Prescribed circumstances — family members

PART 3 Inadmissibility
DIVISION 1 Determination of Inadmissibility
Inadmissibility

Last verified: June 2026 · Source: justice.gc.ca

What that means

Family you leave behind can still sink your application. Under the Act, an inadmissible relative can cause you a problem even if they are not coming with you. Inadmissible means not allowed to enter or stay. This regulation says which relatives count. It applies to temporary residents, and to anyone who has applied for temporary resident status, a permanent resident visa or the right to stay in Canada. The list is your spouse and your common-law partner. It also covers dependent children or grandchildren that you or someone coming with you has custody of or can legally act for. A spouse you have separated from is the exception. That holds whether the split is legal or only in fact.

Affects: Foreign nationals and permanent residents in Canada

This is what the section says, not how it applies to any one case. An officer decides each case.

The law says

IRPR r. 23

Verify on justice.gc.ca

23 For the purposes of paragraph 42(1)(a) of the Act, the prescribed circumstances in which the foreign national is inadmissible on grounds of an inadmissible non-accompanying family member are that

(a)the foreign national is a temporary resident or has made an application for temporary resident status, an application for a permanent resident visa or an application to remain in Canada as a temporary or permanent resident; and
(b)the non-accompanying family member is
(i)the spouse of the foreign national, except where the relationship between the spouse and foreign national has broken down in law or in fact,
(ii)the common-law partner of the foreign national,
(iii)a dependent child of the foreign national and either the foreign national or an accompanying family member of the foreign national has custody of that child or is empowered to act on behalf of that child by virtue of a court order or written agreement or by operation of law, or
(iv)a dependent child of a dependent child of the foreign national and the foreign national, a dependent child of the foreign national or any other accompanying family member of the foreign national has custody of that child or is empowered to act on behalf of that child by virtue of a court order or written agreement or by operation of law.