Spousal Sponsorship

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If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you may sponsor your

  • Spouse
  • Common-law partner or conjugal partner
  • Dependent children

If you sponsor a family member to immigrate to Canada, you must provide proof that you can meet the following basic needs and requirements:

  • Food, clothing and shelter
  • Applicants must be able to support themselves and their spouses/family/relatives financially, and ensure that the sponsored spouses or relatives do not need to ask for financial help from the government.
  • Ensure that the sponsored family member does not have a medical or criminal background. If they have a criminal record or are a risk to Canada’s security, they may not be allowed to enter Canada.

The Family Class immigration objective is to reunite close family members in Canada. This class allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their dependent children, parents and grandparents, spouse, common-law, or conjugal partners.

The Government of Canada strongly supports keeping families together whenever possible. As such, the processing of Family Class applications is given the highest priority at Canadian Visa Offices.

DETERMINE YOUR ELIGIBILITY – SPONSOR YOUR SPOUSE

Effective October 25, 2012, sponsored spouses or partners must now live together in a legitimate relationship with their sponsor for two years from the day they receive permanent residence status in Canada.

If you are a spouse or partner being sponsored to come to Canada, this applies to you if:

  • You are being sponsored by a permanent resident or Canadian citizen
  • You have been in a relationship for two years or less with your sponsor
  • You have no children in common
  • Your application was received on or after October 25, 2012

THE SPOUSAL SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM IS A SUBSECTION OF THE FAMILY CLASS IMMIGRATION CATEGORY. UNDER THIS PROGRAM, A CANADIAN CITIZEN OR PERMANENT RESIDENT MAY SPONSOR A SPOUSE OR COMMON-LAW PARTNER FOR CANADIAN PERMANENT RESIDENCY.

Both the Canadian citizen or permanent resident (also called the ‘sponsor’) and the foreign national (the ‘sponsored person’) must be approved by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) in order for the sponsored person to receive a visa.

Spouse or Common Law Partner Sponsorship

Requirements for the Sponsor:

  • Must be at least 18 years of age
  • Must be a Canadian permanent resident living in Canada or a Canadian citizen
  • Cannot be in prison, bankrupt, under a removal order (if a permanent resident) or have been charged with a serious offence
  • Cannot have been sponsored to Canada as a spouse within the last 5 years

Requirements for the Sponsored Person:

  • Must be at least 16 years of age
  • Must not be too closely related to the sponsor

Requirements for the nature of the relationship:

You must prove that the relationship between the sponsor and the sponsored person qualifies under one of three categories:

  • Spouse: This means that the Sponsor and the Sponsored Person are legally married. For those married within Canada, a Certificate of Marriage from the province or territory where the marriage took place will show the marriage is valid. Note that same-sex marriages performed within Canada are valid for spousal sponsorship. If the marriage took place outside of Canada, it must be valid under the law of the country where it took place as well as under Canadian federal law. Same-sex marriages that took place outside of Canada are not valid for spousal sponsorship, but an application can be made under either the common-law partner or conjugal partner categories if such a relationship can be proven.
  • Common-law partner: In order to establish a common-law relationship, the Sponsor and the Sponsored Person must cohabit continuously for at least one year, excluding brief absences for business or family reasons.
  • Conjugal partner: Conjugal partners can be of either opposite-sex or same-sex. A Sponsored person is defined as conjugal partner if:
    • Exceptional circumstances beyond their control have prevented them from qualifying as common-law partners or spouses, such as immigration barriers or legal restrictions limiting divorce or same-sex relationships
    • They have had a mutually dependent relationship for at least one year with the same level of commitment as a marriage or a common-law union. This can require a demonstration of emotional ties and intimacy, financial closeness, such as joint ownership of assets or mutual financial support, and efforts to spend time together and reunite