Canada Lends Maximum Support to Spousal Visa Program Applicants

by Mansi Sahai Published on 17/Aug/2022

In Canada, the government understands the essence of families being together. Thus, the country put family reunification as one of the top priorities and aims to speed up the processing of spousal sponsorship applications.

Precisely, Canada's spousal sponsorship program makes an ideal pathway for spouses and common-law partners of Canadian citizens and PR holders to reunite with each other. As a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, a person aged above 18 years can become eligible to sponsor their partner to move to Canada permanently.

About spousal sponsorship

As mentioned, Canadian permanent residents and citizens can sponsor a spouse, common-law partner, or conjugal partner to apply for permanent residence in Canada.

To qualify, a sponsor and the person to be sponsored must prove their relationship to the IRCC and to your surprise, Canada also recognizes same-sex marriages, which means same-sex partners are also eligible to apply under one of the following categories:

Spouse- A person who is married to you legally and has an age minimum of 18 years
Common-law partner- A person 18 years or above who is not married to you legally but must be living with you for a minimum of 12 consecutive months.
Conjugal partner- A person who is not married to you legally but is in a relationship with you for a minimum of 1 year. A person must be 18 years or above and living outside of Canada. A conjugal partner cannot live with you in their country of origin or marry you because of certain immigration and legal angles. The reasons may include marital status, sexual orientation, persecution, etc. Thus, it is essential to prove that you both can't live together or get married in the country of your conjugal partner.

Eligibility Criteria

To sponsor your spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner, you must:

Age 18 years or above
Be a citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, or be registered as an Indian under Canadian Indian Act.
Prove your plan to live in Canada with your sponsored partner once they become a PR holder (Only if you are a citizen of Canada but living abroad)
Be residing in Canada at the time of application (if you are a permanent resident)
Prove that you don't get any social assistance for a reason except any disability
Prove that you can support the sponsored partner financially

Application Process

Under the spousal sponsorship program, there are two applications. As per the IRCC, you must submit both the applications simultaneously, including the sponsorship application and the Canadian immigration application for permanent residence.

The first step is to fill out the application form.
The second step is to pay the application fees online, which includes processing fees, the right of PR fee, and the biometrics fee
The third step is to submit your application through mail to the IRCC.

If your application has been successfully approved, you both as a couple must meet certain obligations, i.e.,

The sponsor must be able to support the sponsored partner for up to three years financially.
The sponsored partner will be forbidden from sponsoring anyone else for five years after receiving a sponsorship for Canada PR visa.