One of the Canadian immigration goals is to facilitate family reunions. If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian, and you are at least 18 years old, you might be qualified to sponsor your spouse (husband/wife), common-law partner, or conjugal partner. In this application, you can also sponsor your or your partner’s dependent children (under 22 years old). Of course, you can also only sponsor your dependent children, if necessary.
In this article, we focus on the Spouse, common-law partner, and conjugal partner Sponsorship Application. If you would like to sponsor your dependent children, please feel free to contact us.
Spousal Sponsorship
If you are legally married, no matter if it is a hetero-sex marriage or same-sex marriage, you can sponsor your spouse (husband/wife) to permanently live in Canada.
If your spouse is currently living with you in Canada and would like to stay with you in Canada during the application processing time, you can apply under the Spouse or Common-law Partner in Canada Class, which might allow your spouse to apply for an Open Work Permit so that she/he can work in Canada while waiting for the final PR. However, In-Canada Class application cannot be appealed if it gets refused.
If your spouse is overseas or would like to stay in his/her home country while waiting for the application, you can apply under the Family Class. You cannot apply for an Open Work Permit with this application; however, you may appeal if your application gets refused.
Tips for the Spouse Sponsorship Application:
- IRCC is very strict about checking the genuineness of a marriage. A marriage certificate is a must but cannot guarantee that your application will be approved if other evidence is lousy and not strong enough.
- If your spouse is now in Canada, but somehow lost his/her legal status, e.g. visa expired, you might still go with the Spouse sponsorship, contact us to get a deeper consultation.
Common-law Partner Sponsorship
If you and your partner, no matter if he/she has the same or opposite gender as you, have been living or have lived together (under the same roof) continuously for at least 12 months and your relationship is a marriage-like, you may sponsor your partner as a common-law partner.
Like the Spouse Sponsorship application, Common-law Partner Sponsorship can be done in Canada or overseas. If applied with In-Canada Class, the applicant may apply for an Open work permit; If applying from overseas, the appeal right is reserved.
Tips for the Common-Law Partner Sponsorship Application:
- Be careful while you are calculating how long you two lived together or have been living together. The one-year continuous requirement is rigid. You cannot go with 364 days and one day missing.
- Evidence for continuous living together includes, but is not limited to leasing in both of your name, utility bills in your name and/or your partner’s name, photos, insurance sheet in both of your names, and testimonials from neighbors, landlords, family members, and/or friends.
Conjugal Partner Sponsorship
This is the trickiest one in the family sponsorship application and has a high bar for applicants. To meet the definition of a conjugal partner, your partner is living overseas and has a marriage-like relationship with you for over at least one year; meanwhile, due to some reasons which are out of your control, you cannot live together as a couple and you cannot get married in that country.
A typical usage for conjugal partner sponsorship is for same-sex partners. If your same-sex partner cannot come to Canada due to visa application refusal, and the country he/she lives in does not support same-sex marriage; meanwhile, you cannot stay in his/her country for a long time, you might consider applying for conjugal partner sponsorship.
Tips for the Conjugal Partner Sponsorship:
- An interdependent relationship is one key in this type of application. You need an amount of evidence to prove that you are interdependent on each other, emotionally, physically, and financially.
- You need strong evidence to prove that the barrier(s) exist and prohibit you and your partner live together.
Common Q&A for Sponsoring Your Partner
Q1: Can I (Canadian Citizen or PR) stay overseas while applying to sponsor my partner?
A1: Yes. However, you must show that you will live in Canada when the application gets approved and your partner becomes a PR. Evidence includes, but is not limited to job arrangement, buying real property for future living, school research and/or application for your children, etc.
Q2: I sponsored my previous spouse/husband/wife/partner, but our relationship is over. Can I sponsor my new partner/spouse?
A2: If three years have not passed since your previous partner/spouse became a PR, the answer is NO.
If three years passed, and he/she did not receive (or received but paid back) social assistance, the answer is YES, if you meet all other requirements to be a sponsor (e.g. financial stability, clean background, etc.).
Q3: I was sponsored to become a PR as a spouse, common-law partner, or conjugal partner, but my previous relationship ended. Can I sponsor my new spouse/partner?
A3: If five years have not passed since you became a PR, the answer is No.
If five years have passed, the answer is YES, if you meet all other requirements to become a sponsor.
Q4: I live in B.C/ Alberta/ Saskatchewan/ Manitoba/ Nova Scotia/ New Brunswick/PEI/Newfoundland/ overseas, but your company is in Ontario, can you handle my application properly?
A4: YES. Absolutely! As of September 23, 2022, all sponsorship applications are mandatory to apply online. No matter where you are, our high-quality service is always available to you. Please feel free to contact us now! Our Family Sponsorship application expert will help you with high-quality services.
