Spousal sponsorship is a part of Family Class Sponsorship and Canadian citizens or permanent residents may sponsor their spouses or common-law partners for permanent residence in Canada.
For spousal sponsorship, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) must approve the sponsor and the sponsored person after providing proof of their relationship in order to receive a visa. Relationship qualifies under one of the following categories:
- Spouse
- Common-law Partner
- Conjugal Partner
Also, Canada recognizes same-sex marriage, and same-sex partners may be eligible to apply under any of the above three categories, provided they meet all eligibility requirements.
Requirements for Spousal Sponsorship Canada
Besides being a Canadian citizen or Canadian permanent resident, the sponsor must meet certain requirements such as:
- The sponsor must demonstrate the financial ability to provide the sponsored ones with their essential needs, including:
- Food, clothing, shelter and other basic requirements of everyday living; and
- Dental and eye care, as well as other health needs not covered by public health services available to all Canadian citizens and Canadian permanent residents.
- The following agreements must be entered into with the government of Canada:
- The sponsor must agree to provide sponsored one with essential needs for a prescribed period of time; and
- If the sponsored relative is over 19 years of age and not elderly, and the sponsor promises to support the sponsored person(s) for a prescribed period of time, the sponsored person(s) must promise to make every effort to become self-supporting.
- The sponsor must have either:
- Physical residency in Canada; or
- For Canadian citizens sponsoring a spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, or dependent child, a demonstrated intention to reside in Canada by the time the sponsored family member lands in Canada as a permanent resident.
- In addition, the Sponsor must be at least 18 years old, not in prison, not bankrupt, not under a removal order (if a permanent resident), and not charged with a serious offence.
Spousal sponsorship application has two components. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) must approve both parties of the sponsorship applications, sponsors and their spouses. This is the requirement by the Canadian Government in order for the permanent residency to be granted for the sponsored person.
Common-Law Partner
In general, in some cases, the sponsored person does not need to be legally married in order to become qualified and come to Canada. According to the rules, if you have been continuously living together for a minimum of a year in a conjugal relationship, then this is recognized as common-law partnership.
Even if you have lived apart from each other for some period of time, you may still be considered eligible as long as you can prove you have spent the majority of your time living together in the same household as being common-law partners.
You can further strengthen your spousal sponsorship application by providing certain proof to IRCC which may include joint bank account information, receipts, joint residential leases, and other relevant and available documents.
If you want to apply as a sponsor, you can use the application guide (IMM 5289) by following this link. Please note that, in order to use this package, you must be either a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident. In addition, all candidates must be over 18 years of age as a requirement.
Spousal sponsorship outside Canada is a great way to sponsor your spouse even if she or he is not currently with you in the country.
Outland Spousal Sponsorship Canada
Many times couples live in separate countries while they submit their application for sponsorship. With the help of the outland spousal sponsorship application, spouses or common-law partners have the opportunity to apply for permanent residence while they live abroad. In addition, if you are being sponsored, you may even get a temporary visa to travel to Canada while waiting for your application to be finalized.
Who is the principal applicant in spousal sponsorship?
A person who wants to become a sponsor is the principal applicant in spousal sponsorship. Many times individuals may confuse these terms used by the Government of Canada on its immigration and citizenship forms.
In sponsorship application, the principal applicant is who intends to become a sponsor, in other words, the sponsor is the Canadian citizen or permanent resident who submits a sponsorship application to bring his or her spouse to Canada.
Sometimes gathering all the necessary documentation and making a submission for spousal sponsorship applications can become a stressful task to accomplish. You need to make sure that your application is correct and complete, which can cause delays or even refusal in the processing of your sponsorship. Therefore you should consider following the checklist provided by the IRCC accordingly. You can find the checklist file here.
In general, as the main applicant, you will need to complete and submit the following documents:
Generic Application
Additional Dependants/Declaration
Additional Family Information
Schedule A – Background/Declaration
Spouse/Common-Law Partner Questionnaire
Application to Sponsor, Sponsorship Agreement and Undertaking
Sponsorship Evaluation
Use of a Representative (if needed)
To learn more about eligibility requirements for the sponsor and sponsored person, please contact.
The minimum necessary income or low-income cut-off (LICO) for given family size, is established by Statistics Canada and accordingly, a sponsor must demonstrate a level of income that meets the requirement. The sponsor is freed from this requirement if: